The Dangers of Turtle Tots to One's Mental Health
by Treeni
Summary: Kitty was just a normal girl who wanted to get through college. Honestly. She just... can't help, but... help. 300 to 600 word snippets... usually, it doesn't always happen. T for probable language.
1. New York

Disclaimer: I do not own TMNT

Updated and Edited 2/17/16

* * *

Kitty closed her eyes enjoying the cool night air. It was almost three in the morning and she had class at noon, but she was enjoying the night air far too much to give it up just yet. It had been another crazy night at the bar, but the payout had been worth it. Earning nearly three hundred dollars in a night was never a bad thing for a struggling college student in New York City. Her hand briefly brushed over the bulge of money in her pants pocket that was hidden under a sizable, but ragged hoodie. 'Even if it did come with some weird tastes,' she thought to herself with a glance up at the purple cat ears nestled in her pastel dyed locks.

Kitty didn't exactly just work at a bar, she worked at a fetish strip club named _Dream Come True_ in the Bronx. Her Latina heritage enabled her tongue to roll out a natural purr sound when she so wished it. Her boss Duke had quickly caught on and before long, she entertained almost exclusively to men who liked "cat-girls". She charmed everything from those who were curious, to anime enthusiasts, to even the occasional full out furry fetish.

"Me-ow! Damn girl you be lookin hella fine!" Barked a random guy who happened to be passing near the park bench she was sitting on that night. Another tuesday night in the big apple it seemed.

Sure, she was a fantasy worker, but she had just gotten off duty. Plus, the club had rules and bodyguards to enforce them. It was probably the biggest favor her boss Duke had ever done for his girls. For all the man's faults he protected his girls. Sometimes though, they had to protect themselves. The odd hours of the club made the girls vulnerable on their way home. Most of them buddied together in groups to protect themselves, but she wasn't close enough to any of the other girls to really justify it.

A large hoodie and jeans covered the slips of material that was her work uniform. After the first few times, she had just started leaving the purple cat ears and tail on. Duke had instructed her to not leave them at the club. There was too high a risk of them being stolen there. He hadn't paid top dollar to one of his best customers for the robotic things just to have the set snatched and sold for drugs or something. Of course, if they were stolen from her it would come out of several of her paychecks. Duke could be a real piece of work sometimes too.

"Heeeeere kitty kitty kitty~" The man sang when she ignored his original advances.

That was NYC for you.


	2. Stay safe

Edited 2/17/16

* * *

The cat ears she wore flattened. Kitty didn't look up at him as she stood. Instead she moved into the pocket of her baggy jeans and pulled out a set of keys and klunky, black cell phone. She was already dialing as she fastened the keys between her knuckles as a makeshift weapon. Whether they were on speaking terms or not, her mother hadn't raised her to be a fool.

"I am dialing the police right now. If you come one step closer I will hit send and they will be able to pinpoint our location from my phone. If you come at me I _will_ scream and I _will_ defend myself and I can guarantee you will be harmed. I know your face and I will be able to identify you," She threatened.

The man seemed to consider her words, his eyes drifting between her and the direction he was previously heading, "Yeah well, you ain't all dat anyways."

"Good to know," She replied, keeping a threatening glare locked on the man. She had puffed up her chest and squared her shoulders with her thumb still posed over the send button. Anything to send the signal that she wasn't going down without a fight.

"Whateva," He sighed. The man's shoulders slumped and he trudged off toward his original path without another word.

After the man was a good distance away she sighed and stuffed her hands in her pockets, still grasping tightly to the keys. She was no fool. This was New York, better to offend someone than to let herself be at risk. It was never safe for a woman at night, especially not an "exotic worker" and most especially not in the city. Kitty just squared her shoulders before taking off toward her closet of an apartment. After all, this was just a normal Tuesday.

* * *

"Do you think that cat-lady's gonna be okay?" Don asked from his position behind a bush near Brady playground. The boys had been using it as shelter during the night when it was clear, at least until that lady had shown up for the second night in a row.

"Leo! H-her ears mov-oved! Did ya-did ya-didya s-see it?! S-she's just l-like us!" Mikey said excitedly in as much of a whisper as his five year old tolerance would allow.


	3. Family first

Edited 2/17/16

* * *

"You know Sensei said dat we're da only ones like us." Raph said before crossing his arms and staring down his littler and assumably younger brother.

Mikey visibly deflated from his brother's comment. Raph had a way of making him feel small. He could easily out talk and out strength his youngest brother. Leo of course was always good at everything and never seemed to get into trouble. Then again Oto-chan also always talked about how smart Don was. The small turtle hugged his arms to himself, looking down at the ground. Mikey often felt small compared to his brothers. He was just barely physically bigger than Donnie, but the next youngest's smarts easily knocked him down a leg. Then both Leo and Raphael had a physical and talent edge over him. He wasn't particularly good at anything, besides bothering his brothers, and they were often too busy to play with him…

"But… but what if Oto-san's wrong?" Don asked, his mind already buzzing with the possibilities of a world with others who were like them. What if there were mutants on the surface all along? What if they had homes and stores and jobs? What if there was a school for mutants? He'd wanted to go to school since the first day his father brought a small television in their lives when the four turtles were nearly three years old. Said TV had already been replaced a few times since, but the small turtle would never forget seeing his first "back to school" ad. His mind buzzed with questions that he immediately took to his father. He bewildered and entranced by the prospect of schools. Places for children to learn all that they could. It was actually Don's enthusiasm that prompted his Oto-san to begin swiping old workbooks and textbooks from the nearby elementary school, but only the ones that were going to be sent to the recycling center anyway. He had insisted it was just another form of recycling.

It's not like Donatello was going to complain about how his father had obtained his new, precious books.

"Would ya guys shut it?" Raph barked, "Dere ain't no otha's like us. Sensei said so."

"It doesn't matter either way," Leo chimed in, "We have to find Splinter-sensei before worrying about anything else. He's probably out there looking for us too."

Don and Mikey looked at each other, both hopeful and disappointed before nodding in agreement.

Family always comes first.


	4. Play date

Thank you to: Gia's Soul and Dragonbreath88 for reviewing!

Edited 2/17/16

* * *

It was three days before Kitty went back to the park. The girl was just happy to feel the breeze against her face and smell the fresh air, in the most relative manner of speaking of course. They'd need to get a distance away from the city to have a chance at any real, fresh air.

"Nora! Watch!" Kitty's head bolted up at the sound of her niece's voice chirping from the swing.

"Okay, okay May, I'm watching," Kitty replied letting out a small giggle at the girl's enthusiasm.

"Me too!" Maya's elder sister by a little over a year, Serena, called followed by a parade of light giggles.

"I promise Rena I'm watching you both!" Kitty called back. It was the one day of the week she got to see her favorite girls in the world and she wouldn't waste it by spacing out or not paying attention. Every single one of these moments was precious.

Kitty made sure to clap and cheer loud enough for all of New York to hear, as the four and five year olds jumped off of the swing each into a posed, standing position that gymnasts strived for on the mats.

"And she sticks the landing!" Maya called out to while throwing her hands in the air.

"And the crowd goes wild!" Serena cheered, imitating the noises she heard from the audience of her father's football program. Maya bowed to the imaginary audience and Serena jumped around as if she was being cheered on. Kitty may have had a subjective opinion, but she was honestly certain that her nieces were the cutest little girls in the world. Without question.

"Wonderful," Kitty said giving both young girls a grin and a reassuring pat on the head before a shiver ran down her spine from a sudden wind chill, "Are you both warm enough in your jackets?"

In truth they were pretty well dressed for the surprisingly chilly mid-autumn day in thick jeans, warm sweaters and colorful, baggy knit hats that the girl's maemam had made for the two as a back to school present for both girls.

"_**Yes,**_" Both girls replied simultaneously. Serena very openly rolled her eyes at the adult in presence and Maya just put her hands on her hips with a single brow raised, but a smile tug at the corner of both girls' lips.

"Alright, alright, how about a lunch break huh? Your mother would kill me if I let you starve,"

Kitty bit the inside of her cheek at her blatant lie, but neither of the girls commented on it. No need to ruin their happy Sunday. Kitty just put on a big smile and continued.

"I made chicken empanadas for Rena, beef for May and cheese for me," Kitty said.

Maya and Serena each grabbed one of Kitty's hands and attempted to drag her over to the food faster. Their aunt's empanadas were the best!

The girls eventually gave up on dragging their aunt and took off running to the nearby bench with their picnic basket on it. A rustling stopped Kitty in her tracks however. She jumped around to see no one behind her. Kitty scanned the area for possible threats. The city could be a dangerous place, even out in the open on a sunday. Sometimes, you just didn't know who would make an appearance or pose a threat. No one would hurt her family. She wouldn't allow it. Not ever. Her posture relaxed however when behind a nearby bush, she made out a shadowy figure no bigger than either of the girls, distinctly kid shaped though.

Based on size, he or she couldn't have been much older than Serena, though it wasn't uncommon for starved children to have trouble developing… Her heart tugged at the thought of a child starving. What if it had been one of her nieces starved on the street? The thought alone made her feel sick.

"Change of plans girls!" Kitty called, turning away from the hiding child, "Let's go to that Brazilian restaurant for some Feijoada instead, you both could use the extra veggies."

Both girls had matching looks of disappointment and Kitty felt like she was the rope in a match of tug o' war. Street kids always pulled at her heartstrings, but her nieces knew just how to pluck at her resolve.

"And then we can go for ice cream."

"Yeaaa!"

"Let's go Nora!"

Kitty smiled and led the way. At least that poor kid won't starve tonight.

It was a small possibility, but just maybe she could try and bring something more lasting later.

At least a blanket or two.

Even if there wasn't a child to use it when she got back, she was sure someone, somewhere would find something to do with it.

* * *

Authors note:

Sorry that this chapter's a little long. Serena and Maya are important characters, but will only physically show up in the story a few times. There will be a lot of phone calls however between Kitty and the girls.

Empanadas are fried bread stuffed with... well basically anything you want. Traditionally meat and corn smut, but there are all different versions now.

Feijoada is a bean stew with vegetables and sausage in it. It tends to be served with fresh veggies, farofei and a combination of other side dishes.


	5. Ice-cream Envy

_"And we can go for ice cream"_

Raphael bit the inside of his cheek. In his little life, Raph could only remember having ice cream twice. Oto-san hated to steal and would only do so in dire circumstances. Ice-cream envy was apparently not a dire circumstance, no matter how much any of them had begged.

The first time he had ever tried it, they had just relocated after construction workers had actually dug through their roof when they were about three years old. All four of his brothers ended up sleeping up against their father, neither used to the new sounds nor smells. Their father had went on a topside run the next morning while they were still asleep and by the time they had awoken Oto-san had come back and presented them a new sweet treat to brighten their moods.

The second time Raphael couldn't really remember much of. All four of them had been pressing Splinter with renewed energy to get them ice cream again since he had found a refrigerator at the dump, even Leo in his own subtle and respectful way. The new amazing feat of technology had given them a way to actually keep it from turning to a big puddle of mush. The problem was however, the fridge was stood only a couple inches taller than the biggest turtle tot himself. Oto-san had said until they could find a more sizable one, it was for necessities only. However, all of their priorities had changed when Mikey fell ill. The brothers had just gathered for a breakfast of cereal and milk, one of Splinter's so-called 'necessities'. To be honest, it should have been hard not to notice Mikey's slow trek to the table as compared to his normal bouncy gait. At the time no one questioned it however. Mikey had a way of keeping a nearly constant stream of buzzing noise around his person and no one wanted to break the rarely found peace. Looking back Raphael couldn't help, but feel guilty about that. They should have known better. HE should have known better, but none of them had picked up on it until the youngest turtle had literally fainted during morning practice.

Their father later informed them that Mikey had a case of something called strep throat. Raphael remembered that Don immediately insisted that they get a book about it, even if he was still having some problems reading some of the bigger words. Leo was on a cleaning frenzy, trying to help out anyway he could while they were banished from Oto-san's room where Mikey was resting. Raphael got mad and just wanted things to stop stepping on his brother's throat.

Eventually their father was able to come across a medicine to help him. Penasomethino'rather. Raphael just knew it made his brother better. On the day Michelangelo was finally able to start eating again, Oto-san brought home a whole gallon of vanilla ice cream. It was mainly for Mikey because it was cool and soothing on his throat, but the others were each allowed a celebratory bowl. Raphael secretly had two.

"Mutants o' nat, topsiders ah was'ful," Raphael grumbled with distaste seeing a group of topsiders literally leave behind an entire basket of food, to go and get more food. Memories of nights going hungry or watching his father go without flashed behind his eyes. He would have killed to get some decent food. Him and his brothers had been on their own for just over a week now and had only been able to eat what they could scavenge. His last "meal" hadn't been since yesterday. Just some crummy snack food they were able to sneak away from a nearby convenience store. They could never take much at a time or risk being caught and the lack of real nutrition was hitting him. He could see by the sheer exhaustion in his brothers they weren't fairing well either. Sleeping on plastic playground equipment in the middle of the cold probably wasn't helping much either.

Raphael went still, blinked once, twice and then he realized.

Someone had just left_ an entire basket of food._


	6. All skepticism

Updated 2/24/16

* * *

Leo was suspicious.

Raphael had just returned with an entire basket of fresh food. The unopened basket was practically reverberating with warmth. Whatever was in there had to be fresh. Not that they all weren't hungry, but it was wrong to just take food from others who were also hungry. It was one thing to swipe a few things from a grocery store or a warehouse where the food was still being distributed, but taking from the mouths of people was wrong. Despite his own hunger, Leo found it in himself to say so.

"Go put it back," Leo said crossing his arms.

Don let out a whine at the prospect of being so close to hot food and then losing it. He was so hungry.

"Leo I didn' steal it I swear!" Raph declared, stomping a foot forward and dropping the basket into the arms of an unsuspecting Mikey. It was only a moment before the smell of warm cheese and spices drifted up from the basket, making all of their stomachs growl, "Dat crazy cat girl from that otha' night just up and left it 'der. I'm tellin' ya, topsiders ah' nuts."

Leo narrowed his eyes at Raph's explanation. _Yeah, right._ What kind of person just leaves fresh food lying about like that? It was hardly the first time that Raph's excuses were bologna.

Mikey's stomach growled again, being closest to the food put him at a disadvantage.

"Leo, everyone's hungry, just take the darn food!" Raphael insisted.

Donatello gasped at his brother's cursing, but couldn't deny he agreed. Even if he did think he was lying, Don was so hungry he could hardly turn down any form of sustenance, especially not when it smells this delicious. Cheesy, a little spicy and a lot yeasty. There must have been fresh bread inside.

Leo just sighed, his shoulders slumping in defeat. Without saying a word he knelt down in front of Mikey took the basket from his grip and started unpacking everything. There were three sets of metal utensils, four bottles of water, two bottles of apple juice, three foil wraps that probably housed food and a blanket at the bottom. Unraveling the first bundle revealed a fresh and cleaned assortment of carrots, sugar snap peas and celery.

Mikey stuck out his tongue at the sight of veggies, but didn't protest as Leo distributed a handful of each to him, at this point he'd probably even eat brussel sprouts. Don actually perked up and immediately started chewing on a carrot after Leo gave some of the assortment to him. Raph scrunched his nose at the celery, but seemed content to eat the peas and carrots.

It was the next wrap that got everyone's attention though. It contained more than a dozen small white rolls that smelled like cheese. These were probably where the yeasty smell was coming from. All four of the small turtles grabbed at the rolls with more enthusiasm. Leo was the only one who actually paced himself while eating his own share.

Unlike the other two, the last package contained three separate smaller packages inside with scribble the outside of the foil balls with girls names. These must have been who Raph had swiped the basket from. Leo sighed and turned to Raph in a hushed voice, they didn't need to continue this fight in front of Mikey or Donnie, "You stole from helpless girls?"

"I tol' ya, I dint' steal anythin'!"

Obviously Raph didn't understand the point of Leo's hushed voice.

Leo shook his head before opening the individual packages. They each held 4 half circle things that were a golden brown. They smelt like cheese and meat and spices. They were all given one from each package and held varying levels of surprise that each package had different kinds.

"I d-don't know wha..t a Sah… sah…sahena is," Mikey said trying to read off of the crumped foil, "B-but I li-like it!"

* * *

Note: The golden, stuffed half circles are the before mentioned Empanadas and the small white cheese rolls are Chipas. Both of which are finger food and easy picnic food. Chipas are about the size of a doughnut hole, or a little bit smaller than a ping pong ball.


	7. Worry wart

**I wonder how many people actually like this story, I mean I'm going to keep writing it anyway because it's a challenge to myself, but I see a lot of people reading it yet hardly any reviews or follows or anything. Just something I found curious. **

* * *

Kitty paced back and forth. It had been hours since she had dropped off her nieces and she still hadn't been able to get the image from her head of her favorite girls as poor starving children on the street. Ever since seeing what, she had been sure was a child at the time, -but had since rationalized might have been a plant or an animal… or some other woodland creature- her motherly instincts had taken over threefold.

"Calm down," She commanded to herself, abruptly stopping the back and forth trek, "It's probably nothing. You were imagining things."

Kitty let her form fall onto the couch in an ungraceful heap, "It's fine, everything's fine."

She took in a deep breath, in… and out… It's going to be fine.

"But what if it's _not?_"

Kitty sat up suddenly and a resounding crash echoed throughout the small two bedroom apartment; a result of her knee clunking against the table from her jerky movement which caused the cheap, but decorative flea market vase to go crashing to the floor in a sea of shattered glass.

Her hands knit together as she forced the twitching limbs to sit in her lap. The array of fingers wreathed and pulled at each other as her anxiety escalated.

"There could be kids in that park right now who are starving or… or sick."

Kitty's eyes widened, trying her breathing technique again to calm down.

It didn't work.

"What if there are kids in that park right now that are _dying_?"

All the color left the young girls face and her limbs went rigid. She was silent as she processed all of the possibilities.

Kitty suddenly stood, grabbed her jacket and purse, then was out of her apartment in a whirl wind of frantic nerves and a heavy heart.


	8. Big brother

Thank you to Gia's Soul for the many reviews! 3

Also as she's moved up to being one of two of my favorite writers on the site, between stellar writing skills and just general niceness, I'm going to shamelessly advertise her story now each chapter and you can't stop me *sticks out tongue and neeners*

SO! To all the turtles fans here go read "A Ninja's Dance", by Gia's Soul. It is one of the best fics I've ever read. I would say it's in the top three for best turtles fics I've read along with Heroes and Friends by Mikell and "How the Mighty Have Fallen" by HannahCake310

For any Supernatural fans out there, go read anything by aloggedinreader, she's one of the best Sabriel writers out there. (and especially read the 46 series cause I totes helped with it ;3)

* * *

"D-Dooooonnie, how much fa-farther do we have ta-to go?" Mikey whined, dragging his feet.

"Leo says we have to check everywhere for clues, plus we're almost back."

"I'm ti-tiiired."

"You could have gone with Raph or Leo." Donnie said with a chuckle, like that would ever happen after the fight that was brewing today. Not only had Raphael gone off on his own, but then he came back with what may, or may not have been stolen food. Not that Don would have blamed his brother if it was stolen, but Leo held strict morals since forever. There was a reason nobody wanted to play superheroes with him.

"W-what? Nooooo, D-Don you… y-you wouln't…. wouldn't do t-that… r-right?" Mikey asked with a paled face, big blue eyes that were an inch from watering and his jaw hanging open in an exaggerated frown.

Don was silent for a moment, looking at his little brother's horrified face, "No Mikey, I wouldn't."

Michelangelo ran over and hugged Donatello as far as his little arms would allow. Last time Mikey was pulled into one of their arguments, he had ended up with a dislocated shoulder from literal pulling. Ever since, Don and Mike started building a fort out of the couch cushions and Donnie would read a starry eyed Michelangelo comics for hours while trying to draw the youngest turtle's attention away from their brothers' quarrel. The small turtle with a perpetual grin may have three older brothers, but the ever curious Donatello only had one younger brother.

"_Hello?_" A new voice called out from a distance.

It was silent as the two little turtles hid, careening to get a better look.

"D-Don!" Michelangelo exclaimed in his best attempt at an excited whisper, "It's her!"

"Shhhh!"

"Sorry," Mikey muttered, noticeably quieter.

"_I… I'm not here to hurt you or anything. I bought blankets and pillows from the thrift store. They're clean! I took them straight to the laundromat after… I also have a friend who delivers pizza. I bought two of them and he was even able to swipe me one of those bags that keep them warm so they'll keep a little longer,_"

The voice trailed off. Mikey tugged on his brother's arm to go over to the lady, but Donnie shook his head no. He did however, crouch down low, just as Oto-san taught them, and move closer. They still had quite a bit of coverage behind the foliage, but now they were close enough to positively identify her.


	9. Not crazy

Thank you to Gia's Soul for the review,

And to all of you readers, go read her work she's awesome.

Also to any Supernatural fans, I recommend my friend aloggedinreader, she has a lot of dynamic stories that are Sabriel heavy.

* * *

It was the very same woman from before. The very fact she had brought so much stuff to an empty park at least proves Raph was telling the truth. He wasn't sure how to feel otherwise though. Years of being told not to be seen by humans, was drilled deep into his skull. On the other hand, the instinctual need for food, shelter and adult guidance made him want to run to her and cry and ask for help.

He couldn't do that though, he still had a little brother to protect.

_"Look if you're run-aways or from one of the orphanages, I won't turn you in or anything. I know some people can be awful and adults don't always know best…. I… I just want to help."_

Donatello didn't make a move, despite Michelangelo's urging. They really could use the supplies, but was it worth the risk?

_"Please… if anyone's out there who needs this… just give me some sort of sign that I'm not crazy and I'll leave everything and go. I just… want to make sure all of this gets to someone who can use it."_

The small turtle tot nearly shook. His mind was racked with indecision. What should he do?

_'Take Mikey and get out of there,'_ sounded a voice in his head that sounded suspiciously like Leonardo.

_'We need 'dat stuff!'_ said another voice that sounded notoriously like Raphael.

Donatello bit down on his bottom lip, glancing at his little brother who he noticed was on the verge of tears while both pointing and trying to pull him toward the so dubbed 'Cat Lady.' Don realized he had to make a decision.

After a moment of contemplation, he picked up a small stone and aimed it carefully at a tree about 15 meters away. It made a resounding _'thunk' _that echoed through the more open area of the park.

"Oh thank goodness," The woman said, putting a hand over her heart.

The woman set all of the supplies at the edge of the playground and started off. Don's throat caught however when she suddenly stopped and turned facing toward where the pebble hit.

"One last thing, I just want to know how many of you there are so I know I'm bringing enough."

Donnie felt his chest flood with relief when she didn't take a single step closer.

"Mikey hide," Donatello ordered before carefully moving to a tree about 8 meters away from his little brother. He picked up a stray stick and whapped it on the exposed bark four times, each time gave a 'clink' sound.

_"Thank you,"_ she said with a smile and a wave not aimed in any particular direction before turning around once more and taking off on her way,_ "Expect jackets tomorrow!"_


	10. A secret

**Thank you to Cat Girl, Gia's Soul, Crystal Violeta and the potatoe one for your reviews. **

**If you like Ninja turtle sassiness go read Gai's Soul's, ****_A Ninja's Dance_**

**If you like childrenized Winchester brothers who are being taken care of by their favorite angels, please go read aloggedinreader's, ****_46 Inch Winchester_**

* * *

It had been three days since _'the incident' _as Leo had called it. Where they were almost discovered by what maybe a mutant cat, but they weren't quite sure. Either way, after Don and Mikey had come back, arms full of bedding and the best tasting food any of the boys ever had, there was a lot of explaining to be done. Mikey noticed Raphael was immediately smug when Don had explained the previous events. Leo on the other hand had immediately become wary and recited a long and winded speech that they've all heard from their father many times. Somehow Leo used his super power of _super boringness_ to convince them all to move camp.

_'Or face the wrath or more lectures' _Mikey thought to himself, scooting closer to the edge of their turtle nest.

Despite losing the shelter of the playground, with all its tunnels and little hide aways, Leo had actually managed to find them a pretty decent dig. Quite literally. That first night they took the mass of pillows and blankets and made a pretty decent pile under some exposed tree roots that helped protect the little ones from the elements.

Michelangelo found himself often thinking back to the woman who made their situation actually livable. She had come back every night since then just before sunset, leaving a new set of supplies every night. They always took it, despite Leo's chary for the whole thing. There was everything from blankets and pillows to fresh warm food to books and games.

Raphael had quickly seized the deck of cards that had made it into the pile and would spend hours practicing shuffling, playing solitaire or even stacking them like Oto-san had once shown them how to do. Mikey wasn't any good at it though, he had clever fingers, but no patience for the task.

Along with everything else, she had actually left three books. Donatello had quickly tore through a book he said was called _"The Phantom Tollbooth"_ which had him fit of giggles practically since he picked it up. He was now onto a book called _"The Never Ending Story."_

Leo seemed mostly to resign himself to watching the other three. He'd listen when Don read out loud, he would play Go Fish when Raph asked and he'd even played toy cars with Mikey a couple times with three or four miniature race cars that were in the set.

Mikey mostly played with the little dollar store toys that were left to them. He hadn't been able to decipher yet how those squiggles on the page made words. He was lucky if he could remember each individual letter. Normally he would be more restless with so little to do during the hours the tots couldn't go searching and yet couldn't sleep. Normally though, he'd also be smack dab in the center of his sleeping brothers instead of on the edge.

However, Michelangelo had a secret. All four of the turtle tots knew that the Cat lady would drop stuff off right before sunset. What his brothers didn't know however, was that she came back a second time each night, when the sky was the darkest shade of navy and even in the city it was almost quiet.

The young turtle tot carefully scooted away from his slumbering brothers and hurled himself from beneath the roots. The cold night air flittering against his skin gave the young turtle goose bumps.

Yes Michelangelo had a secret. He had decided he was going to finally meet the Cat lady tonight.


	11. Coat love

**Thank you to Gia's Soul and Cat girl for their reviews.**

**If you like Leo getting called out for being overbearing and actually have realistic tension between clashing personalities go read ****_A Ninja's Dance_**** by Gia's Soul.**

**If you like sneaky Winchester pranks please go read ****_Attack of the 46 Inch Winchesters_**** by aloggedinreader.**

* * *

Kitty took in a deep breath of as she made it to the park, the autumn air was crisp and cool against her warming pink cheeks. She was thankful for trench coats. Without her favorite lined coat she was certain she would have frozen in an outfit that consisted of mostly spandex, sequin and string.

Despite this she really did like her job. It was just that sometimes between the noise, the lights and the constant lingering smell of smoke and booze it was a bit of a sensory overload. The breeze picked up and a gust of cold air chilled what little skin was left exposed to the elements. Did she mention she loved her trench coat?

After work she liked to visit the local park on her way home to another building that smelled of smoke and booze with too bright lights and noise that reverberated through paper thin walls. She did not come to the park just to check if the kids who might be around were getting the supplies she had left. She visited the park every night for years before they had shown up and she would continue to after they moved on.

Sometimes Kitty just needed a moment between being 'Kitten cool': a literal personification of men's fantasies or 'Miss Gomez': the overworked engineer student who was picked on by the boys in her classes for either her gender, race, age or all three; then of course there was 'Nora' on Sundays the aunt who always had to be calm and understanding of her nieces just to remind them that it's okay to be kids and it would get better. So after work she took a diversion from her walk home to spend 30 peaceful minutes just being Kitty.

Her bliss only lasted a few seconds though, suddenly she felt something shift against her side. Kitty's eyes jerked open, her fight or flight instincts gearing up in case someone followed her from the club again. She was both surprised and relieved to find a small body curled up next to hers in an over sized, lime green jacket with thin yellow stripes on it she specifically remembered buying at the thrift just a couple days before.

"Well… hello," Kitty said blinking in surprise. She had almost given up and now suddenly one was practically laying on her side.

The hood titled sideways, a shadowy face peered up at her. The darkness was almost all encompassing almost like a layer of black ink covered everything in the park, part of the reason why she had originally chosen it. Now however, she wished she was a bit closer to the street lamps.

"Hi!" came an excitable and slightly squeaky voice.

Kitty smiled, she knew a friendly voice when she heard one. There was silence for a moment, but a fairly pleasant one. The smaller of the two started kicking his feet underneath the jacket he was practically swimming in.

"Thank you for helping me and my brothers," The light voice said.

The young woman nodded and held out a hand to the boy in polite formality, "I'm Kitty."

"Mi-Michelan..angelo… but you c-can call me M-Mikey," the small figure said, pulling his sleeve up before grasping her hand like he saw people do on the TV all the time.

Kitty nodded grinning at first, but then she noticed something… a little strange. Where five fingers normally were she only felt three thick ones. When she looked down closely she noticed that the hand was green….


	12. I'm Mikey

**If you like strong female characters on both sides of conflicts please go read A Ninja's Dance by Gia's Soul.**

**If you like family moments and adolescent soul bearing please go read Attack of the 46 Inch Winchester by aloggedinreader.**

**Ugh the chapters are running a bit long, but I just want to get this part of the story done.**

* * *

Kitty just stared down blankly for a moment. Michelangelo became noticeably restless as he started fidgeting next to her, no longer comfortable with the close contact as she analyzed. His fingers started to twitch in her grip until he started to tug his hand away. She let him.

Maybe he'd been wrong…. He had been so certain she would understand. Now, he wasn't quite sure why. He held the hand that was previously in hers close, like he wasn't quite sure what to do with it as kitty had just continued to stare down at the spot his hand was. Her mouth was just barely open in the beginning wisps of a gasp. Michelangelo let his sleeve fall down again and pulled him arms around himself in an attempt at comfort. All reasons his brothers had given on why coming out here was a bad idea and all of his own doubts that had held him back for the days before came careening back in one big tidal wave that swirled his emotions every which way until all he could feel seeing the woman's unblinking stare was _panic._

_"Ya don't know she's even a mu'ant."_

_"Mikey, cat ears or not seeing a talking turtle would startle anybody."_

_"Splinter-sensei said it's not safe."_

_"Why'd she wanna meet ya anyway?"_

_"It could all be a trap, what if she's trying to trick us?"_

_"Mikey…you know dad said humans might not ever be able to accept us."_

_…Humans might not ever accept us…_

_….might not ever accept us…._

_….not ever accept us…._

_…not ever…._

_…what if she doesn't accept us?_

Mikey wanted to run. This was a horrible idea. He didn't know what to do if she cried.

_What if she screams?_

He started to shake. This was a bad, bad idea. He should have never come.

_What if she takes me away to one of those labs like Donnie said?!_

Michelangelo's legs started to tighten as he braced his hands flat on the smooth wood of the park bench. He was gearing up to run. Out of nowhere though, something touched his shoulder. Mikey was certain he must have jumped at least the height of a skyscraper from his surprise. He looked over to see a long tanned hand with long, hot pink, manicured nails resting right in front of his face.

"Are you warm enough?" She asked with a half-smile before biting down on her red stained lip. She looked almost as surprised as he did that she said it.

He just stared up at her and just nodded, not quite able to force any words out yet. She let her hand slip off his shoulder and faced forward. He wasn't sure how he felt about that yet. He saw her jaw tense for a moment and then she took in a deep breath.

They both sat silently for a few prolonged minutes. She would sneak glances at him out of the corner of her eye, but then look forward again like she hadn't been looking at all when he caught her stare.

Finally after a long and much more uncomfortable silence she finally turned to the small turtle tot, "Am I dreaming?"

Michelangelo shook his head no, not quite sure what she was asking him.

She gave a nod of understanding then forced out a quick breath before giving a real tooth-filled grin, "Good, let's try this again. I'm Kitty."

"M-Mikey," He said shaking her hand for a second time. He decided he liked the way Kitty's warm hands covered his own in her careful grasp.


	13. Just maybe

**Thank you to Gia's Soul for your reviews. **

**Seriously though if you like the turtles at all, you should go read Gia's Soul's story ****_A Ninja's Dance_****. She's fairly flawless when it comes to writing them.**

**And if you like Winchester fluff please go read ****_Attack of the 46 Inch Winchester_**** by aloggedinreader, warning though, it may cause heart melting. If you or someone you know has a case of Ice hearts, read with caution.**

**Yay! Some of the silliness can finally start!**

* * *

Kitty blearily opened her eyes wondering if she had fallen off her bed in the night. Whatever she was laying on was hard and pillow-less. She felt a pressure on her stomach and tried to remember if she was watching her neighbor's corgi, Bopper again. She rubbed her eyes and slowly some of the haziness faded. For just a moment, she wondered how soon a wet nose would be in her face before she soon realized she wasn't in her apartment as a golden leaf fell on her face.

Her eyes crossed as she stared at it confused. Kitty blew it away with a quick and undignified _'poof'_ sound. She looked down to investigate the weight on her stomach. A little mossy green face peaked out of a clashing electric green hood. Green or not he looked adorable. She grinned. So it hadn't been a dream. Kitty ran her fingers through the knotted purple kinks that made up her hair trying not to wince as it pulled. Last night little Michelangelo had thrown a lot of information her way.

First off, he called himself a mute turtle –which he clearly was not. She had tried to rack her brain for what he might have meant, but was coming up blank as he continued on in an excitable jumble of words that she only caught maybe half of. She had been able to get that he was with 3 other guys…turtles…people…maybe... he said they were his brothers. There was… what was it Rap? He may or may not be some sort of super hero… or villain. He wasn't completely clear on that. There was something said about the power rangers, but she wasn't sure how it related. There was…Domy… that sounded maybe right. Who could possibly be on an evil plot to take over the world, but on the other hand the toaster might just be a toaster. Nothing was for certain except that if Domy did take over the world Mikey said he wanted Canada.

Kitty asked Mikey if he even knew where Canada was and Mikey pointed up. She thought it was pretty clever of him to know until he insisted it was a space country. Last there was E.O. who might be a robot built by Domy. She wondered what E. O. stood for. When she asked though, Mikey laughed at her. Apparently E.O. was boring and a baby splinter, but that really hadn't cleared up anything. Kitty wondered if 'splinter' was some sort of insult among turtles. The word had come up a few times in his story, especially in relation to the maybe robot. All that was clear about E.O. was that he wasn't allowed to play cops and robbers because he chided the robbers instead of shooting them. Mikey had told her this very clearly and very gravely. He seemed pretty offended by that fact.

It was curious how old these brothers might be and how they've had such an impact on the small turtle. She wondered if they were even turtles. Kitty paused her thought process and bit her lip. She hoped that none of them were spiders.

Kitty reached down and patted his back to try and sir the small turtle. Her hand came into contact with something hard though which surprised her. Until an embarrassingly long moment later she remembered that turtles have shells and he probably wouldn't feel light pats much through the sturdy layers of it. She settled instead for rubbing slow circles against his forehead. That seemed to work well.

Big blue eyes stared up at her filled with sleepy confusion. She hadn't realized the night before how startlingly blue his eyes were. The first rays of sunlight reflected in them glittering and they looked almost like sapphires. Mikey rubbed his eyes, clearly not yet in the land of the living. His little gestures from how he rubbed his eyes to him slowly swaying and digging his little hands tighter into the fabric of her shirt as unconsciousness tried to reclaim him, reminded her of any other small kid his age.

"Come on, let's go find your brothers," Kitty said to the little turtle who had almost drifted off again. He nodded, but didn't move from his restful place against her hip. She giggled at his overall adorableness.

Kitty picked up Michelangelo carefully and positioned him on her back. It seemed best to let him sleep for a while longer. He immediately cuddled his face into her neck and hugged an armful of her hair close.

_Now, if I was a superhero, an evil genius and a robot, where would I hide?_


	14. A witch

**Thank you to Gia's Soul and sundance1989 for their reviews!**

**And because I can't think of anything even mildly witty because fanfiction has been down all day and I'm just lucky I had time to get this together and up I'm just going to say this. **

**If you want to read good fanfictions, please go try ****_A Ninja's Dance_**** by Gia's Soul and ****_Attack of the 46 Inch Winchesters_**** by aloggedinreader.**

* * *

Raphael grunted pushing to get past another section of heavy foliage out of the way as he stomped through the forest. A loud '_snap_' reverberated, echoing through the spaces between the trees after he pushed a branch a little bit harder than necessary. Leo probably would have nagged him about it, but who could really blame a turtle? His youngest brother just up and disappeared to _who knows where_?

It was enough to make anyone angry, "Prolly got dis'acted by a bug or somethin'"

Raphael gave a scowl just thinking about it. He hated bugs. He hated them so, not to be mistaken for fear however. Michelangelo once learned that the hard way when he had gotten the two confused… and then had gotten punched in the face. Raph may have been a little bit grounded for it, but his youngest brother didn't bring up his fe-_dislike_ of the small critters for a whole month after.

Right now though? He would have even put up with Mikey teasing him with the rubber spider he found….

Raphael clenched his teeth and let out a huff, "Mi-KA-el-an-GAH-lo! You betta be out der!"

The small turtle realized his brother probably couldn't hear him, but the shouting did make him feel better for a moment. After the moment passed though, he just felt sad.

* * *

_"Mi-Ka-el-an-GAH-lo! ~" _Kitty heard an echo bounce around, it was hard to pinpoint where exactly it was coming from. A little more east.

"Someone you know?" Kitty asked nudging a still very sleepy Michelangelo with her elbow. Her hands were still a little occupied with keeping him aloof.

"Ss Rapie," Mikey said shifting and snuggling his face even further into her hair. The little turtle must have liked soft things or his sleepy brain convinced him it was some sort of teddy.

Kitty had to wiggle around and readjust herself every time Mikey moved. The little tot had at some point in her searching moved from being piggybacked outside of her coat to then hunched by her neck and finally found a way to burrow under the collar of her coat and drape himself across her shoulders. He was a slippery little bugger, but cute.

Oh well, time to head west.

* * *

Raphael had been on a searching through the area for probably forever. In fact, it had to have been forever. He counted. It was definitely forever.

Just thinking on the fact of how long he'd been out there made him want to punch something. Then thinking of why he'd been out there so long made him want to punch something even more. He glared at the endless amount of trees around. His fists curled and he was ready to draw back and strike.

No, it _wasn't_ going to be like that time he punched the wall and cried for twenty minutes straight because his hand hurt. That had been the walls fault anyway. Who said it was allowed to be that strong?

Just as he was about to take a swing, a snapping sound diverted his attention. It wasn't him this time who made it.

"_Raaaap? Doooomy! Eeee Ooooo_?" An ominous voice chanted in the distance.

Raphael turned toward it. In the distance he could see a dark shadowy figure with evil green eyes he could see clearly despite the distance. She had long gleaming claws with what looked like blood on them. Even her mouth seemed to have some dripping from it. Her hair swirled in every directed like it could snatch him up at any moment!

"A...a….a…A WITCH!" Raphael yelled and took off in the opposite direction.

_He had to find his brothers and quick! They had to know!_


	15. Dirt clod

**Thank you to sundance1989 for their review last chapter.**

**If you want to read a story that sciences AT you and not WITH you, please go read _A Ninja's Dance_, by Gia's Soul.**

**If you want to read about Dean getting pink hair and Sam's fear of clowns, please go read _Attack of the 46 Inch Winchester_, by aloggedinreader.**

**…This one got longer than I anticipated. I'm thinking of taking the word limit down, but on the other hand these are intended to be normally short chapters. Oh well. **

* * *

One thing that had fascinated little Donatello since he and his brothers had taken to searching for their father on the surface was the sun. Just a few months back his father had gotten him a book that explained time and how it is regulated by the solar system –though he had to look up what both of those words meant before he continued his reading. He had been so excited about the prospects brought up in the book and learning that everything was connected as the galaxy itself worked as a giant clock via... gravi-somethin or rather. He just knew that the sun managed to draw the other planets in so they cycled around it and one full cycle equaled a year. Then as the planets circled around the sun they also spun –which confused him a little at first because it didn't _feel_ like he was spinning. The book explained that because it was happening all the time we don't notice it and one full rotation makes a day.

It was all so… cool.

Oto-san had taught them long ago that everything had a spiritual connection. It was just really interesting to him though finding out that things were all connected in other ways too, one of those ways being time.

Actually finding out that the earth moved around the sun confused him too at first. Firstly, it certainly looked like the sun was the one moving instead of the other way around. He had brought up his dilemma and they all agreed that seemed that the sun was moving. Then the book on Greek history he had been browsing through just a few days before had also said something about the sun moving around the earth. It was confusing when two books said different things.

So, to solve this dilemma he went to his father. The large rat just smiled down at the little turtle when he was shown the conflicting information and told his son, "_Things are not always as they appear Donatello_."

Donatello decided he didn't like books that lied to him, so he hadn't tried to read through it since.

* * *

"You hangin' on okay?" Kitty asked a now very awake Michelangelo as his little arms hung around her neck. The day was starting to heat up just a little too much to be wearing the heavy coat over everything. The little turtle even agreed he was getting a little overheated and while he had managed to wiggle himself into the collar of the coat, wiggling out was another matter entirely. Kitty had decided to opt for just tying it around her waist instead.

"I-I'm good!" Mikey chimed giggling.

While he had been overheated in the heavy jacket, it wasn't quite enough to actually make him get down. Mikey had claimed that the ground was still much too cold and wet to walk on right now, plus it made his toes smell funny. Plus, he liked the fact that she smelled kind of sugary, like birthday cake.

Kitty had given him a slightly doubtful look, but didn't stop smiling as she wiggled the two of them out of her coat. In the process Mikey moved away from her wiggling back in favor of her more stable front then proceeded to lock his hands securely around her neck and his legs hooked into her sides. The coat would probably drag a bit and would most definitely enfulge her legs in them, but it was still better than her whole body being stuck in the stroke inducing death trap.

Kitty didn't say a word though as she pulled the coat in to position with the sleeves at her hips before quickly wrapping them around the little hanging turtle's shell and tying it secure with a tug.

"Ack! N-noooooo!" Mikey shouted wiggling around, trying to break free of his entrapment.

"I've got you now! There's no escape! Muhahaha!" Kitty declared playfully. She wrapped her arms around him for extra security before moving in on her target.

Michelangelo let out a highpitched squeal as the girl blew raspberries on his neck. It tickled!

Kitty laughed and gave him a second to breathe before her grin widened with evil intentions and she did it again. If hanging out with a little mutated turtle was ever going to be normal, she had to treat him like he was normal. So Kitty had naturally decided she was going to treat him like she did her nieces, and her nieces were always tickled, so much that they knew by heart the evil glint their aunt got in her eyes right before she 'attacked.'

* * *

Donnie did as Leo told him and hid when he heard someone approaching. His curiosity took over however and he couldn't help, but peek. There was this… _thing_ just in the middle of the forest. On the top it looked almost like a person, but it had talons and where hair should be it looked like there were purple snakes! From the bottom down though it looked like one big, dragging blob of black that almost looked like a snake tail too. Didn't he read something about a creature like that before?

"_Ack! N-nooooo!_"

Donatello immediately jumped up. That was Mikey!

Then his brother screamed! Donnie found himself running to the scene before he could stop himself. He had to save his brother! Right as his little feet got him to the area where he heard Mikey coming from he found the creature holding his brother, multiple arms reached around to keep him in place as it leaned down and was…_feeding off him._

Donnie's mouth dropped and his eyes welled up in tears from horror of what he was seeing. He knew he wouldn't be able to fight the creature by himself. He had to get Leo! He'd know what to do. Getting Leo wouldn't save his brother now though….

The little turtle steeled his shoulders and picked up a rock before hurling it at the creature, "LEAVE MY BROTHER ALONE YOU GORGOON!"

Then he took off running with his only hope being it would be distracted enough to leave his little brother alone.

He had to find Leo.

* * *

Bonus:

Kitty blinked and wiped the remaining debris off from the dirt clump that had hit her shoulder.

"…Did that just happen?" she asked blinking down at the little turtle who looked suspiciously similar to the one who had just assaulted her with… dirt.

"I… t-think th-that was D-domy," Mikey said looking just as perplexed as Kitty felt.


	16. That's stupid

**If you like clumsily dancing Mikeys please go read ****_A Ninja's Dance_****, by Gia's Soul. **

**If you like Tricksters finding themselves getting attached, then please read ****_Attack of the 46 inch Winchester_**** by aloggedinreader.**

* * *

Leo was doubtful.

Raphael had just shown up spinning wild tales of evil witches roaming the forest.

"Raphael, there's no such thing as witches. Splinter-sensei said so," Leo reminded his brother helpfully. The young turtle wondered how his brother could forget their masters lessons so easily.

"And I'm tellin ya Leo! I saw it!" Raphael exclaimed stomping his feet.

Leo crossed his arms and tilted his head forward, giving Raphael his imitation of their sensei's best 'no-nonsense' look. Raph was being a fibber again.

Raphael's jaw instantly clamped shut. Then he puffed out his cheeks glaring at his older brother. He held his breath like that for so long his face had almost turned red despite its normal green tone. Eventually, the young turtle's need for air overcame his stubbornness and he was forced to take a breath, some of his frustrations exhaling with it. At this point, he had just grumbled and crossed his arms.

"Okay Raph, how about we stick together now to look for Mikey?" Leo phrased as a question, but it was obvious it was more of a command.

Raphael was about to protest, but then Leo cut it off, "If there's a witch you can help me find her. She might know where Mikey is, plus it would be better to stick together if there is one."

Raphael just nodded, his shoulders slagging a bit and followed his brother as he led the way to the meeting point.

* * *

When Donatello was late returning, Leo was concerned. Leo himself normally liked to keep to the schedule their master had tried to set them on, but Donatello had become nearly obsessive when just a few months before Splinter-sensei had taught him how to read a clock. The little turtle had finally made an appearance as the sun reached nearly the middle of the sky.

"Leo!" Donatello yelled as he finally came within his brothers' view.

"Donnie! There you are, what took you so long?" Leo asked, putting his hands on his hips like their father normally did.

"Yeah Don, what gives?" Raph asked with only a single hand at his hip while the other hung lazily.

"No time!" Donatello exclaimed grabbing one hand of each of his brothers and trying to pull them in the direction that he came from, "Mikey got taken by a gorgoon!"

Raphael yanked back, pulling his hand out of his younger brother's death grip.

Leo just blinked before tilting his head a little bit to the left, "A what?"

"A gorgoon! You know, like Ahdusa!"

No, Leo did not know.

"What?!" Raphael exclaimed, "First evil witches are roamin' around and now a Dusa's got Mikey?!"

All of the sudden Don paused in his attempt to pull Leo's arm off and turned to Raphael with a look of pure perplexion.

"There's no such thing as witches Raph, that's stupid."


	17. A friend

**Thank you to Gia's Soul for all your reviews. **

**Speaking of Gia's Soul dear readers, if you really want to read a funny story full of paranoia induced feelings, please go read****_ A Ninja's Dance_****.**

**If you're a Supernatural fan who needs some fluff to help mend those feels, please go read ****_Attack of the 46 Inch Winchester_**** by aloggedinreader.**

**Speaking of fluff, have some now.**

* * *

Mikey has officially forgone the meager world of mere mortals and has transcended to become _SUPER MIKEY_! Well… maybe not, but he did get to wear Kitty's trench coat as a cool cape after she tripped on it five or so times. Plus he was still riding on her shoulders, not because he couldn't walk though, but he was able to traverse the world from new heights never seen before…. But shhhh don't tell.

The best part of all however, was that when Mikey made '_woooosh!_' noises Kitty took off running so he was basically flying. Not to brag or anything, but he was a _flying_, talking turtle! She didn't even seem to mind that the long fur on her head got puffier every time she did it, or even when Mikey tugged on the ones still shaped like springs.

Michelangelo burst into giggles after a particularly long super dash, but he noticed Kitty was panting between her own laughter.

"Okay," she declared with a dramatic intake of breath followed by a quick huff out, "I need a break."

She let herself slide down a nearby tree trunk to sit amongst the treaded dirt and grass below. Mikey in turn, climbed off her shoulders to curl up at her hip and then laid his head on her side. It was great! She didn't even push him off like his brothers did! Her skin was different than anything he had ever come across before. Sure, he'd seen lots of people on T.V and in those picture books with the shiny paper. There weren't many people on those though with the coloring she had. Her exterior was olive toned and it was softer and smoother than he'd ever imagined with tiny little hairs that he'd never been able to make out on people in the pictures or on a screen. Yet, there wasn't nearly as much fur as there was on his pap. He found that despite the color reminding him of the cold pennies he and his brothers would pick up, she radiated warmth like the hot bottle his dad put under his pillow when he was sick.

When Kitty opened her eyes again, Mikey tried to look away before she noticed him staring, but she just gave him a lopsided grin, "Ready to keep goin' bud?"

He stood after nodding and she moved into a crouch position, making it easy for him to scramble up her back again. No way was he going to give up the chance to be up high again!

"K-k-kitty?" He asked, tucking his chin against the bird's nest that made her once neat curls.

"Yeah?" She asked without pausing in their forward motion.

"Wh-what's a b-b-bud?" Mikey asked, tugging a stray corkscrew again until it turned into a frizzy bushel of them.

"You know, like a friend," She said and Mikey made sure to hold on tightly as she surveyed the area, turning every which way.

"We…w-we' re fri-ends?" Mikey asked. He was so surprised he had to force his stupid throat to talk. He hadn't botched his words that bad since he was little.

Kitty gave a light giggle and for a moment Mikey blanched. What if she had been joking about the friends?

"Of course we're friends Mikey," She said before reaching up and patting his foot. Mikey wiggled his toes because it tickled a little.

"Y-y-you're my f-first one."

Mikey reached forward and hugged Kitty around her warm neck. Kitty just responded by giving his ankle a reassuring squeeze, "Let's go find your brothers little bud."

Michelangelo couldn't see it, but he knew she was smiling.

* * *

Leo knew his brothers were either lying or going a little crazy when they told him a Witch or a Dusa was supposedly out there. However, he finally believed they were just mistaken because as the three turtle brothers searched through the forest for their fourth, Leo finally laid eyes on… _it_.


	18. Turtle tack!

**Thank you to sundance1989 for her review! **

**You know the drill please go read an awesome story about Judith, the Australian who has to deal with getting shot and then found and saved by mutants. It gets pretty intense, emotions run high and feelings get hurt. A lot. It's so good though, so please go read _A Ninja's Dance_ by Gia's Soul. **

**Of course there's also _Attack of the 46 Inch Winchesters_ by aloggedinreader, where Sam and Dean are suddenly kids again and the angels try to use this to their advantage because little kids wouldn't have the same resistance to say no that their adult selves do! They must be protected!**

* * *

Kitty wasn't sure what to think when three Mikey look-a-likes came running at her, brandishing sticks as weaponry.

"Give. Us. Back. Our. Broth. Er. You. Evil. Clown!" One said, whacking her hip between nearly every syllable.

"Ah-Dusa!" A slightly smaller one said, whipping her knee with a smaller, but more bendy twig. Kitty briefly wondered if it was some sort of catch phrase until her attention was taken by the last of the three.

"Witch!" The last and biggest one insisted… or insulted. Kitty wasn't really sure. This one carried what almost looked like a small fallen branch and he then used said branch to jab her in the back of the thigh with the pointy end.

"Ow!" she yelled at the last one's assault. That one actually hurt! She grabbed his weapon and held it still so he couldn't repeat his attack. "Can you not do that?

One of the three yelped in surprise, the smallest one dropped his bendy stick and this one tried to yank the branch back out of her hands. He was unsuccessful compared to her adult strength however. After a moment the three realized they had the disadvantage and slowly started to back up. The smallest and the biggest ended up behind the middle sized one, who swung his own stick wildly.

"When I say so, run!" The middle sized look-a-like declared.

"You know I can hear you right?" Kitty asked, earning herself three wide eyed looks of horror. She grabbed one end of the last weapon and snapped it, "Now that that's outta the way…"

The three little turtles all hurdled together expecting some sort of divine wrath from 'the monster.' Seeing this however, another giggling turtle slipped his way down the girl's back. He was still covered from head to toe in the trench coat, but the other three's eyes shone with recognition at the familiar chortles.

"M…Mikey?" Asked the one still wielding half of a stick.

"H-hey E-e-eo," The little turtle spat out between giggles, "Yo-you shoud-shoua se-seen y-your f-faces!"

Michelangelo pushed the hood of the trench coat off and struck a pose as he revealed his true identity for the fate of the world.

The other three little turtles ran to Mikey and Kitty took the opportunity to untie the trench from Mikey's shoulders and fish her compact mirror out of one of the inner pockets.

"Ah-hah!" She declared moving the leather wallet aside to feel the familiar plastic of her reflector, but her victory was cut short when she finally got a glance at her visage, "Oh lord… no wonder you were scared."

What had once been a neat and healthy amount of sparkle green eye shadow on her eyelid, with just a touch underneath for dramatics was now a big, smudged mess around her nearly black eyes. Where lips had once been a perfect deep red cupids bow had since been bitten, licked and otherwise ruined causing just random patches of crimson to actually stay on her lips while the area around her mouth was heavily smudged.

Her hair was hardly of this world anymore. It was literally so mused and messy that her cat ears were lost in her tresses. Not only was her hair in dire need of a brush, but a cleaning as well. Sleeping on it with the many products still in her hair had caused it to defy any and all laws of gravity. The locks that Mikey had tugged up when he was bored were literally still sticking up, "It's a miracle I didn't scare the little guy."

Kitty winced as she fiddled with her locks trying to convince her hair to release the cat ears. She was letting the brothers have a moment to catch up. The three she had yet to meet all had daring tales involving monsters or something while Mikey stuttered his way through a tale about finding the Cat Lady who was named Kitty, like what were the chances of that?!

"Actually, my name's Leonora. Kitty's just a long time nickname," Kitty said offhandedly with a last tug to finally get the darn cat ears out of her hair.

Mikey suddenly turned to her with a look of shock, "Y-you l-lied to m-me ab-about your n-ame AND y-your mu-muteness!"

Kitty blinked trying to translate in her head, but decided it was a futile attempt, "Okay mister, my brothers are a robot, superhero and future world dictator."

Mikey's brothers looked back and forth between Kitty and Mikey probably trying to figure out who was who and maybe what the word dictator meant.


	19. Formal introductions

**Thank you to Gia's Soul and sundance1989 for their reviews, you guys are awesome. **

**If you like scary ninja ladies plotting against Hun, please go read ****_A Ninja's Dance_**** by Gia's Soul. **

**If you like Gabriel actually being part of team free will, please go read ****_46 Days Later (follow up to Attack of the 46 Inch Winchester)_**** by aloggedinreader**

**By the way, Leonora is pronounced with the first O sort of silent so it would sound like LEEnoRAH for the long "Eee" sound as opposed to the similar name Lenora which sounds like LenORah for the short "eh" sound. Just for reference and no I was not trying to make a girl version of Leo's name, I try to name my characters with a purpose and this will be brought up later in the story.**

* * *

Kitty stilled, suddenly noticing all the attention directed her way once again after she put her two cents into the conversation. After a moment of consideration, she opted to ignore it and instead use the inner lining of her trench coat to wipe away the worst of the makeup massacre that was her face right now. It would be fine, she'd wash it later. After her skin tone reddened considerably from the dry scrubbing she started painstaking search in the many compartments of her trench to find something to take care of her hair a little.

_Hair tie, hair tie… ah-ha!_

Putting the tie on her wrist she worked her hair to be sort of flatish in her grasp before tying it off. One last glance at her compact revealed a marginally more human appearance, besides the couple of bumps on her chin that surfaced after sleeping in her makeup. Ew.

_It'll have to do. Hopefully it'll be enough to keep children from screaming and dirt from being thrown._

Kitty gave a sigh and replaced her compact into the coat. It was her wearable purse. This was New York, purses were too liable to be snatched and with her hood up, she could sometimes look masculine enough to be left alone when she walked home from the club. She could still feel the stares on her general person. If these were anything, but children she would have snapped by now. The girl had a serious soft spot for kids though. She didn't expect what happened next however.

The middle sized look-alike moved to stand just a meter in front of her, holding her stare with a very serious expression for someone so young.

"I am Leonardo. These are my brothers Raphael and Donatello," He said, holding his hands by his side very formally and his brothers nodded as their names were mentioned, "I apologize for our previous actions and I thank you for bringing Michelangelo back."

From there he actually kneeled down and bowed low. Shocked was hardly the word to describe how Kitty was feeling, more like full out astonishment. No one's ever bowed to her before and he had to be the most well-spoken child she's ever met. Though, the words didn't quite sound like his own. It was almost as if he was reciting them.

The young woman bit the inside of her cheek. What was she supposed to say to that? The sudden ridged atmosphere made her skin crawl. Was she supposed to bow? The other two were still watching her. She spared a glance at Michelangelo, but he just stared at her with a curious expression that revealed nothing. Dammit. Was this a test?

Another moment of hesitation before Kitty knelt down and touched Leonardo's shoulder, "Hey, it's no biggie. I'm Kitty, it's nice to meet you Leonardo."

Leonardo looked up with a surprised expression, but it seemed to work as the other three appeared to have relaxed.

"It's nice to meet you as well Donatello and Raphael," She said, giving each of the brothers a friendly smile. Raphael broke eye contact when she did it, crossing his arms and staring to the side. Donatello however returned her smile with a shy one of his own as he fidgeted.


	20. How long

**An extra thank you to everyone who has reviewed, followed or favorited 3**

**As always Gia's Soul and Aloggedinreader both have awesome stories as well and if you've read any of these notes you know exactly what I'm talking about. Go read them….Now….**

**What are you still doing here with this nonsense when you could be reading epically long stories that would pull your attention for literal days? Go… shoo. Off to adventure land. **

**What? Two chapters? What? What is this? What is happening? Is it that I'm tired of them being stuck in the woods? Probably. **

* * *

Mikey practically skipped over, grabbing her hand to drag her closer to his other brothers while Leonardo watched with a slightly bewildered expression.

"T-this is D-domy! He's s-suuuup-er sm-smart!" Mikey exclaimed, throwing his arms in the air without releasing her hand. He was going to pull her arm off at one point or another, she was sure of it.

Donatello's face turned a slightly brownish red color and he twiddled his thumbs, fidgeting with his own hands, "D-donnie."

Kitty started to wonder if stuttering was a family trait, but it seemed maybe not when Mikey gave Donnie an odd look akin to confusion.

It didn't bother the young tot long however as he then quickly turned his attention away from the smallest of them to the largest, "A-and th-that's Rap!"

"Raph," The turtle grunted. He was still eying her warily. Someone obviously didn't trust her yet.

"Th-that's wha-at I s-said!" Mikey exclaimed throwing his arms outward.

"Hardly," Raphael grumbled before turning away.

Mikey huffed and dramatically turned away from his brother, "And h-he's a m-mean-meanie."

Raphael balled a fist and tightened his jaw before drawing back his hand.

"So!" Kitty cut in, trying to draw all attentions away from the oncoming fight, "How did you guys get out here anyway?"

Everything went dead silent at that question. The tension in the area spiked to maximum levels and it was starting to make Kitty antsy.

All three brothers she was near turned to a now solemn Leo. He glanced down at the ground before straightening his shoulders and meeting Kitty's eyes.

"There was a cave in. After workers started updating the tunnels in the area we used to live we had to leave and move further underground. Except that… further down is less taken care of. Master Splinter had gone topside to scavenge and our… our home started to fall apart all at once. We ran for it and have been looking for our da- Sensei ever since."

"It was… easier to keep track of where we've been up top. The… the tunnels are kinda… confusing," Donnie interjected before looking down at his thumbs while biting his lower lip.

"How long…" Kitty started, her heart clenched the more the story sank in, "How long have you been out here?"

"'Bouta week," Raph threw in, leaning against one of the numerous trees.

"You've been here all alone!" Kitty exclaimed. Oh concern, concern. All of the concern, "You can't stay here by yourselves."

"Who says?" Raph huffed, glaring at the young woman.

"Me. It's not safe. It's already late autumn and it's just going to get colder."

"We' been doin' fine, all by ourselves," Raphael paused in between each of the syllables for dramatic effect.

"You could die!" Kitty insisted. Stubborn child.

"Haven't yet."

The others watched Kitty and Raph argue like it was a ping pong match. Each one threw in another point, until Kitty hit the ringer.

"Your father would want you safe."

Raphael let out a huff knowing it was true, but he refused to admit such.

"Just… please… let me help you," Kitty said. Her eyes shined from unshed tears and her now pink lips just slightly frowned.

Leo finally cut in, "She's right Raph. We can't find Master Splinter if we get sick or worse."

Leonardo really was the most mature little kid Kitty's ever met.


	21. Hot chocolate

**Thank you to Eeirany and Sundance1989 for their comments. 3**

**As always, please read the wonderful and heart wrenching story A Ninja's Dance, by _Gia's Soul_ and if you're a Supernatural fan then check out the 46 Series and all of _aloggedinreader's_ other stories. Both authors are brilliant. 3**

**As promised, 2nd chapter will go up in a about two hours. I just need to tweak it a little. Thank you for your patience. Here's this one now :)**

* * *

Kitty didn't have much of a choice in what to do with this situation.

She had to take them back to her apartment. The only other option was leaving them to scavenge on their own and that just wasn't happening. They were so tiny, like little four year olds. It was really hard to place a definite age on them though. Lack of nutrition can cause growth to stunt and having to survive the day to day can make a kid grow up fast. Plus, there was the whole not being human thing. That could really throw any determinations off. How fast did turtles grow up anyway? And would they age faster or slower than regular turtles?

Shaking her head, the young woman decided that train of thought should be hijacked by someone else. There were way too many factors to take into account. She decided to just go back to the task on hand. Hot chocolate for the little ones, because hot chocolate made everything better, except for Leonardo who tried to hide a wince insisting on plain green tea. After slowly stirring chocolate chips into four of the five cups, she couldn't resist adding just a little honey to the tea.

"Hopefully it will at least be palatable for him."

Liking tea was usually an acquired taste, even the British put milk and sugar cubes in their own.

The young woman carried out the five assorted mugs to the living room on a tray only used when the girls were sick or had a snow day; Kitty noticed the little ones were still hurdled in their makeshift blanket capes they had crafted from the ones she brought from the thrift. The blankets seemed to still be okay, but the foundation she had used to make the area around their eyes and forehead just a bit less green during the walk was mostly absent with just a missed bit here or there. Her bottle of foundation was officially spent, but it had worked. No one noticed the four little kids trailing after a young woman as anything, but normal.

Cleaned faces or not, now that she could actually see them in the lighting it was apparent they all needed baths.

Kitty carefully distributed the drinks to their respective requesters. Marshmallows for Michelangelo, no marshmallows for Donatello, a little cinnamon for Raphael -whom she had to practically beg to get any preferential information out of- and secretly sweetened tea for Leonardo. Oh, lastly a bit of whipped cream on top of her own. Yum.

Mikey nearly drank all of his in one big gulp, "Th-this is the b-be-bestest drink e-ever!"

Hardly, but she'd take the compliment. Kitty was just glad his must have been one of the first she poured or it would have certainly burned his little mouth. That would have been bad. She'd never seen anyone really chug hot chocolate before so she didn't think to give a warning. Thinking on it now though, they probably would have had a difficult time getting hot chocolate very often. She felt like a bit of an idiot for not warning them now.

Donnie nodded in agreement with Mikey's compliment and said a polite "Th-thank you. It's great."

Raphael just gave a sound of agreement around his mouthful and Leo simply nodded as he sipped peacefully. They were an interesting lot.

It was very quiet, almost uncomfortably so for the young woman who always seemed to be surrounded by noise. Sure, she normally had to ritually pray to all higher powers, jump three times, do a little jig and then sacrifice a virgin it seemed to get any peace, but this... It was just so... odd to have little kids act this way. In some ways they were more polite than most adults she knew.

All of the sudden the smallest tot perked up, Donatello Kitty reminded herself, his eyes set on one of her books.

"Can... can I read that?" He asked her shyly.

Looking closer she saw it was one of her textbooks sitting on top of the homework she was meant to do last night for... class that...

Kitty took a glance at the clock she hadn't even bothered to pay any attention to since stepping in.

3:47

…Well... her classes for the day were officially blown off, "Shi-"

Kitty suddenly remembered there were small children in the room after the hearing a gasp from her right "-itakemushrooms. Heh, of course you can read it Donnie. I just... have to make a phone call. Be right back."

She could feel all four of the children's stares as she hurried from the room. Her professor was going to kill her. Oh god, the boys in her class would never let this go.

Just as she was about to hit 'talk' Leonardo wandered in the room, "Is... everything okay?"

He was hesitating and glancing all around the room. He must have been nervous. She could only imagine, trusting a stranger with the lives of his family, "Everything's fine. I promise. I just forgot to do something and I might get into trouble for it."

"Is that why you said a bad word?" Leo whispered conspicuously, "When Mikey or Raph forget to do something they were supposed to, Fat- Master Splinter puts them in time out."

Kitty held back a chuckle at the thought, "He sounds like a very good master."

"You know, if they say bad words they have to go in time out even longer. Sometimes sensei even makes them do extra laps," Leo warned her, probably in reference to her earlier mistake.

"When my nieces say bad words, I don't let them have treats... Like hot chocolate. Do you think that's a good enough punishment?"

Leo put a finger to his lips and tilted his head. After a moment he nodded, agreeing that it was appropriate.

"No hot chocolate for me then. You know, I think someone should drink it so I'm not tempted anymore. Don't you agree Leo?"

"You mean so you don't forget and drink it later?" He asked her. Understanding shone in his eyes. Surely even grown ups make mistakes sometimes. Except for Master Splinter, but he knows everything.

"Yeah, do you think you could do that for me Leo?"

The little turtle nodded very seriously. He straightened his shoulders as he walked back into the living room with a purpose. He had a mission.


	22. Girls' room

**Here's a general thank you too all you who have read, reviewed, followed or favorited. Thank you. You're awesome.**

**Okay, I'm just gonna say it like this once. You should go read _A Ninja's Dance_ so we can get excited about it together and eagerly await the new chapters because it's seriously awesome. I mean it. It's a wonderful story and it deserves love. Also _The_ _46 Series_ by aloggedinreader, I helped construct it and it's awesome and I love it lots. All the props to Gia's Soul and Aloggedinreader for their awesome writing abilities. **

**Again, thank you for understanding the delay. I should be back on normal daily schedule tomorrow. Lots of love. **

* * *

"I only have two extra beds, will that be enough room for the four of you?" The cat lady asked after leading them down the hall and to a room that was painted a soft peach.

The beds in the room had wooden bases with the same names painted onto the headboards that they had seen on the first food wrappers. Beside each bed with a small table and a lamp on top of it. At the base of each bed was a bookcase and another table with a chair pushed under it. There was some sort of large drawer set in the back that reached almost the entire width of the room, but it was short and covered in various jewelry and toys. In the back corner, there was another door in the back corner of the room, but no clear indication of where it led.

"Woah!" Mikey exclaimed, his eyes instantly struck on the toys. Donnie on the other hand went straight for one of the bookshelves.

"My nieces normally sleep here when they visit, They've just started school though so their visits won't be as frequent. Now, I have work in an hour and I have to go get ready. You can go anywhere in the apartment, but don't touch the stove or heater. Will you four be alright here?"

"Yep!" Mikey chirped, his grubby hands already on a baby doll.

"Mmm" Donnie replied, his eyes were glued to one of the books he had grabbed.

"We will be fine, thank you for everything Leonora-san," Leo said bowing.. The suck up.

"Oh, please don't call me that. I haven't used that name for years. Please call me Kitty and if you must, you can call me Nora."

"Thank you Nora-san," Leo said again as she moved toward the door. Serious suck up.

Raphael said nothing himself. They had been surviving fine in the forest. They did _not _need her help.

The cat lady took one last glance around the room with her hand on the door. She smiled at each of them until her eyes drifted to Raphael's own form. She bit her bottom lip as he crossed his arms and glared at her. She should leave him alone darnit!

She took a hesitant step forward and then kneeled down so they were face to face, "We will find your father. Please relax, just for a few hours and we'll start on the game plan tomorrow. Ok?"

Raphael found himself nodding before he even realized he was doing it. Something about the look she gave him that screamed "well meaning" and "I understand." She smiled at him one last time before heading out of the bedroom.

Sure, he could relax a for a few hours. It didn't mean for a second he would trust her.


	23. What makes

**Thank you to Gia's Soul and sundance1989 for their reviews. You are awesome.**

**If you want to read about actual ninja turtles and not just this interpretation of what could have been their pasts, please go read _A Ninja's Dance_, by Gia's Soul.**

**If you want to read about Balthazar and his long lived quest to become the guardian angel of all night mistresses, please go read _46 Days Later_, by aloggedinreader.**

**Also this is going to be a two, maybe three part section because character interaction can take up a lot of space. Anyway.**

* * *

The turtles have stayed with Kitty for two nights now. She had off from classes for the weekend thankfully and she was starting to get a feel for her little house guests.

Of all the the tots, Donatello was the biggest mystery.

Leonardo seemed to be imitating someone. Like when Mikey asked her what they were having for dinner and Leo cut in, "A prudent question is one half of wisdom."

At this Kitty just nodded to Leo before answering Mikey that it'd be ready in a half an hour. Gosh it was hard not to giggle sometimes. He was so serious though that she didn't dare laugh out loud. It might wound his pride.

Raphael made his feelings of distrust and dislike very clear with perpetual glaring and copious grumbling. She tried the magical aunt technique of hugs, but it proved to be ineffective. He just glared and pushed her off after calling her a "crazy lady." She was both a little hurt and a little offended that he couldn't even use her name in her crazy title.

He's stayed pretty close to the tv most of the time.

Mikey was… well… Mikey proved that Leo wasn't the only mimic of the family. He'd actually taken to following her around like a little green shadow. It would almost be annoying if he wasn't so cute about it. When she cooked he insisted on helping any way he could and as he watched in childish wonder at the magic that could be performed in the kitchen. He seriously seemed to believe magic was in play when she made a cheese souffle.

He would even watch as she re-painted her nails after dinner. She tried to coax him into doing something a little more entertaining than literally watching paint dry, but he insisted that he was enjoying himself. He hardly left her side when she was home. She even woke up with the little turtle next to her both nights despite putting him to bed with his brothers both nights. He had balled up at the bottom of the bed the first night and then stuck to her hip the second.

He informed her he must of sleep walked there, but she figured there was something more going on so she let him stay. Like she could have turned down those big blue eyes anyway.

Donatello though… he was a mystery. He was constantly observing things around her apartment or grabbing books and magazines from anywhere and everywhere. He actually read the first couple chapters of her Basic Engineering textbook instead of just looking at the pictures like she first assumed. He had even corrected her yesterday when she was trying to guess answers to some flash card questions for class, well until he turned red after realizing what he did then dash out the room.

She found he would sometimes come into the room she was in, stare at her for a few minutes and then leave again when she noticed him staring. Like he was doing right now.

She wasn't sure how to feel about being so blatantly scrutinized. She caught his eye and his cheeks started to redden, but Kitty spoke up before he could flee, "You know Donnie, if you have a question or something to say, you can be honest about it. I'm not gonna bite your head off or anything. I'm a vegetarian."

He didn't laugh at her joke. She actually thought he was going to leave again, but right as Kitty was about to speak up again to try and be a bit kinder about the situation Donnie took a step forward.

"I… um… can I… er… see your hand?" He asked fidgeting again, he even wiggled his toes this time.


	24. Us different

**Thank you to everyone whose read, reviewed, followed or favorited!**

**Hey, hey, hey... hey you... yeah you *shifty side look* are you looking for your fix? You know what I mean your ff fix, lookin to read a good story? I know some people, you know. I know some people who have totally got the goods. Ya know... if you're lookin. **

**lol the fabulous Gia's Soul and aloggedinreaders have fabulous fics you should go check out, you know, in case you're looking or anything. _A Ninja's Dance_ is another turltes fic by Gia and _Attack of the 46 Inch Winchesters_ is a Supernatural fic by logged. Seriously wonderful stories. **

**Also just a warning, feels. **

* * *

"_I… um… can I… er… see your hand?" He asked fidgeting again, he even wiggled his toes this time._

* * *

She just smiled at him before silently presenting her open palm. Ever so slowly, he took it in his little hands.

"Five fingers," He said, tapping each one separately.

"Actually four and a thumb," Kitty corrected teasingly with a wink. It seemed to lighten the mood enough that he even held a small smile while continuing his examination.

"You have lines on your palm too."

"Yup, Serena said they can tell the future."

"I don't think I believe that," Donnie said piercing his brow so little dimples formed just above the bridge of his nose.

"Yeah, me neither." Kitty agreed with a chuckle, "So what's the verdict doc, will I live another day?"

He grinned wider now and nodded before letting go of her hand. His grin faded again and she could practically feel a wall being put up between them again.

"Donnie, this is a free for all. If you're curious it's okay. Please ask away."

"Can I… can I touch your hair?"

Kitty immediately turned to give him better access. She was already having trouble connecting to a particular turtle that was watching power rangers in the livingroom. She didn't intend to let it happen with another.

He gently ran a hand over tresses before grabbing a single tight curl and tugging on it. He watched intensely as it sprung back into place haphazardly. He grabbed it again rolled the single strands carefully between his finger and thumb.

"Is this what…" He trailed off.

"Is this what, what?" Kitty asked, encouraging him to be open. She really did want to know what was on his mind.

"Is this what… makes us so different from humans?" He asked, gesturing to her hair and fingers.

"Donatello…" Kitty whispered. What could she say to that?

"We… we have green skin and… and shells and… three fingers."

"Two and a thumb," Kitty corrected lamely, trying to divert the conversation.

"Yeah...and beaks," Don continued. He didn't smile this time, "I just.. why? What is it that makes us so different?"

Don's voice got lower and lower as he spoke. This conversation went from being with her to at her and now it was barely even that.

"What's so special about having five fingers or… or hair.. or noses?"

"Noth-"

"What's wrong with three? Is it that we're green?"

"Don-"

"Why are we turtles anyway? Why were we born like this instead of humans like you? Where did we come from? Where did humans come from? Was it the same place? What if whatever made humans messed up when they made us? How come-"

"Donatello," Kitty said firmly grabbing on to his shoulders. He had almost worked himself into a fit. His eyes shimmered. The poor little guy was on the brink of tears.

He rubbed his eyes looking surprised himself when his hand came back wet.

She pulled him into one of her magic auntie hugs slowly swaying back and forth to mimic rocking motions, "Shhh Donnie. It's okay."

"I just…" He hiccuped, "I just want to know what's _wrong_ with us…"


	25. The same

**Thank you to Gia's Soul for her review last chapter. **

**Also apologies for feels. And welcome to the new favoriters and followers!**

**So if you want to eagerly sit and wait with me in anticipation as epic new chapters come out, please go read _A Ninja's Dance_ by Gia's Soul so we can make a little fangroup together. It'll be awesome, I'll be the supreme fan and you all can be my lackeys. ;)**

**Also speaking of fan groups, if you wanna join a cool one, _Attack of The 46 Inch Winchester_ by aloggedinreader actually does have a fangroup and they're pretty wonderful. Awesome story for any supernatural fans. **

* * *

Kitty just hugged tighter and started to rub one hand against his shell, "Oh pequeño. There is nothing wrong with you Donatello."

"Yeah huh! That's why we gotta hide…" Donnie hiccuped again to his embarrassment, and sniffled pushing his forehead hard into her shoulder. It just… wasn't fair. There were so many things that he'd read and heard about; so many things he wanted to see.

"Donnie….shhh, Donnie listen to me," She moved her other hand onto the base of his neck and started rubbing soothing circles with her thumb. She just hummed to him for a minute until his breathing slowed. He liked her humming. It wasn't like the deep long noted tones his father used to try and help them relax. Her voice was higher and she hummed a light was nice. He closed his eyes and grabbed on to each note as it flowed from her throat.

He just stayed still for a long moment. He wasn't sure if he could really move at all until all at once Kitty shifted underneath him and his little fingers grasped the hem of her tee shirt. He moved his face from being buried in the crook of her neck to leaning his head sideways against her shoulder.

"It's okay to be different," Kitty said brushing away a stray tear he hadn't even noticed had freed itself from the crook of his eye. She leaned her head against the top of his own and he relaxed even more, adjusting to sit on her lap instead of standing. She pulled her knees in close creating almost a warm human cocoon for the sniffling turtle.

"It's easier to be the same," Donatello muttered with just a little spite in his tone.

"Yeah…. yeah it is, but you know what?" Kitty asked pinching his cheek lightly where the tear had been.

"What?" Donatello asked her with big eyes. His mouth hung open just slightly showing a missing baby tooth in the front.

"Nothing remarkable comes out of being ordinary little Donnie," Kitty said with a nod and a smile before poking his snout. He snorted after because it tickled, "No one likes to admit it, but greatness comes from strangeness."

Donatello actually felt himself tried to resist. His eyes still felt watery and his throat could choke out a sob at any minute, but the wiggle in her eyebrows as she said it made him want to giggle.

"Maybe, but I bet none of those people were green."

"Don," Kitty started before carefully grabbing onto the sides of his shell and moving a reluctant Donatello to the bed.

He was warm and happy. He liked hugs, something that had been lacking since the cave in.

"Can I lend you a book?"

Donatello just nodded. of course she could lend him a book. He liked books.

Kitty moved from her spot next to him on the bed to the book case. Her orange nails glided over the surface of the covers until her hand suddenly stopped and a single fingernail clacked twice on one cover.

"Here it is," She said handing him a burgundy book with a black and white picture on the cover.

"Why… we can't...wait," Donatello read off from the cover. He wasn't really sure what it was about.

"You're a brilliant little turtle," Kitty said simply and gave his shoulder a squeeze, "Just remember when reading this that there are people who are good, but there are also people who will judge both you and me on what we look like."

"You too?" Donatello asked surprised. He bit down on his lip and tilted his head to the side. Why would people treat her any differently? She was human after all.

"Yup, I've been told I should be busing tables or cleaning people's because of my skin color," Kitty admitted with a half shrug, but the little turtle could hardly miss the frown on her face.

Donatello looked really hard, but he honestly couldn't see what made her much different from the other humans he's seen. Maybe a little darker than the one's he's seen in the stray magazines that found their way to the sewer, but hardly any different. It's not like she was green or pink with yellow polka dots or anything.

"Why would they say that?" Donnie asked. It was really a curious thing, it's not like her apartment was particularly clean. He wasn't sure she'd actually make a very good of a maid.

"Some people are closed minded," Kitty said huffing. She looked frustrated, but gave him a side look and a half grin, "You know I've also been told I should be in the kitchen just because I'm a girl?"

Donatello tilted his head to the side and thought about it for a minute, "Are you sure it's cause you're a girl? Cause you are a pretty good cook."

Kitty laughed in a tinkling giggles kinda way that made Donatello want to laugh with her.

"Never really thought about it like that Don."

* * *

**Note**

**Pequeño: means 'little one' in Spanish.**


	26. Sleepy time

**Thank you to everyone's whose reviewed, favorited, followed anything. I hope you'll give me your opinions on this chapter in particular because it will help me decide how I'm going to continue in writing this particular fic. **

**A big shout out to Gia's Soul and her fabulous fic A Ninja's Dance, the fic that really hooked me back wanting to write in this universe and then the author who convinced me to publish it. Not to mention, both the fic and the author are completely fab. Seriously, don't believe me? Go read for yourself it's great. **

**Another shout out to aloggedinreader and the 46 series. The authoress I beta for and the awesome universe she created (and I helped with!) Seriously it's so much fun, lots of laughs and happy ends. Seriously great authoress to check out if you're ever feeling down because general happy feels. **

**Have a super magical extra long chapter.**

**Question, do you like chapters better like this with lots of detail and thoughts going on or better like the general style of this story where it's more direct and simplified?**

* * *

Kitty pulled her coal colored trench coat a little tighter around her shoulders. The wind tickled the skin of her neck and most especially her now rose hued cheeks. It was cold that night, but she was almost home. It was almost a shame, she hadn't been able to stop at the park since her little gusts had first made themselves at home. She wasn't complaining though, they were precious. If she had to go back and do it again, she would have tried to find them sooner, the poor things. Four little children, lost, alone and wanting nothing, but to find their master. Her only hope was that the faith they all seem to have in this sensei of theirs isn't misplaced. Then again, they had survived alone for nearly two weeks, why couldn't he?

One last turn revealed an old red bricked building about five stories high. She makes it through the front doors with a sigh of relief. She wasn't genetically made for this weather. This cold air always seemed to chill her right to the bones. It was night so Kitty opted for the back set of stairs that were closer to her room, slipping off her shoes to keep any clacking noises to a minimum. It was nearly half passed two, in the morning. No reason to wake those who weren't up and no reason those who were needed to know her business. She'd actually taken these stars more often recently. They were old and creaked; the carpeting that was meant to keep the noise down was mostly in shreds or so worn that it gave hardly any barrier at all. However, the advantage of only having to walk passed two apartments when you were housing possibly illegal... mutant... children was way too promising to give up. It's just easier to forgo the nicer show steps near the entrance.

Carefully selecting her apartment key on the chain in her best impersonation of a ninja, she tiptoed into the apartment. There was no reason to wake up the little ones either. Kitty hung up her coat and pulled her cellphone and wallet from the pockets. Her wallet went with her keys into the gaudy rainbow ceramic bowl Maya had painted for her in her at preschool. Something to do with special paper that was lain on top of the bowls at they were fired. Kitty wasn't completely certain herself how it worked, just that their mother Connie had the one Serena made.

Carefully placing her strappies by the door -she could put them away later- Kitty slowly crept into her room with just her cellphone to be put in the charger. Mikey was already curled up in a ball at the base of her bed. Hardly surprising. Somehow the girl just knew he was going to be attached to her arm or her hip come morning. It was a wonder how he slept so comfortably on his side with that shell. She grabbed a stray tee shirt from the top of her dresser and slipped it on, pulling off her night ware underneath it. The last thing a child that young needed was to catch an eye full.

With a shake of her hair she moved into the bathroom to undergo the tedious process of getting off the smudges of color packed onto her face. As thankful as the girl was for Luther, their makeup and hair artist -because lets be real, she'd never be able to get herself to look the way he does. It was a real pain to get the dried globs of crud off her face. She was so tired she was almost ready to say, screw it and deal tomorrow, but she'd already been scolded once that week for the extra bumps on her face resulting from the powdery nuisance building up on her pores.

"_Girls with lumps on their faces are not attractive girls Kitty,"_ her mind-Luther reminded her with a mental cleaning cloth whap to the face, "_Now if I could just convince Sugar too-_"

Kitty bit back a groan of her previous lecture and went through the process of first wiping off her face dry, repeating with her oil cloth to get the actual gunk off and then finishing off with a through scrubbing with her face bar. Getting that done, she just tied up her hair. _That_ was going to damn well wait til morning.

Two fifty two and she was finally crawling underneath the warm and inviting sheets like they were an old lovers arms. Comfortable, safe and warm. She would have normally let out a sigh in contentment at this point to revel in the joy that comes from tangible contentment, but a turtle who was more asleep than not, was making his way across the comforter to curl up at her side. Kitty smiled, she did that a lot around these four. Something about them just warmed her belly and filled her with the maternal feelings she normally reserved for her nieces.

Kitty carefully pulled the comforter from under Michelangelo to instead cover him with it. The girl had to bite back a squeal at his sleepy sigh. He was so cute. Kitty closed her eyes, a soft whisper of bliss slipped from her lips in a sigh and she was finally able to drif-

_'Riiiiiiiiing!'_

"Dios jo_der_!" Kitty swore jumping up from her place in bed. Why was her cellphone on the loudest setting? Oh wait... club music. Right. Michelangelo sat up next to her, his little hand rubbing those big sleepy eyes, "Go back to sleep pequeño."

Why did they have to call now?

"Ho- I mean, hello."

"_H-hi N-nora,"_ a girlish voice said between what sounded like breathy sobs.

"Serena?!"

"_Y-yeah..."_

"Baby girl you okay?" Kitty asked, suddenly feeling a rush of alertness.

"_Mommy... yelled at us again."_

"Ree!" Kitty exclaimed in an urgent whisper, "Why didn't you call me? Is she yelling at you now?!"

"_No... it was earlier. I just... had a nightmare."_

"Is your sister alright?"

"_Yea... she's sleeping."_

"Wanna-" Kitty gave out a loud yawn, "Um, do ya wanna talk about it?"

"Moma said she didn't want me and made me go live with dada, then Maya went to go live with her dada too. Then I never got to see her or you or moma again."

Kitty sighed and let herself lay back down, phone still in hand, "Ree, you know I'd never let that happen."

"_I know."_

A slow, loud creaking noise sounded, Kitty glanced over with half lidded eyes to see a little turtle wrapped in a blanket. Well it wasn't Michelangelo; he was already tuckered away again with his head on her stomach and his elbow digging into her ribcage right underneath her breasts, "Are you alright Rena?"

There was a pause for a moment.

_"__Yeah..."_

Kitty carefully moved said elbow and tucked his arm over his stomach.

"I heard a noise," the voice Kitty used to identify the turtle ghost as a Donatello.

"It was just the phone," Kitty whispered to him, covering up the receiver, "I love you Ree."

"_I love you too Nora."_

"Can I sleep in here?" Donnie asked between conversation, hiding further under the blanket.

The adult in the room just nodded, her eyes barely open at this point.

"You gonna be able to sleep now Ree?"

"_Y-yeah... I think so."_

"That's good," Kitty said with another yawn as she stretched back to get comfortable as Donnie curled on her other side, "Goodnight sweet girl."

"_Goodnight Nora."_

Another pause.

"_I'll see you tomorrow."_

"Mmmm," Kitty mumbled out a general sound of agreement, her consciousness barely registered in the land of the living any longer. The rainbow unicorns told her it would all be okay.


	27. Rude awakenings

**Thank you to Cat girl for her review and yes I agree with you, they're not those type of girls. Love however? They're four and five years old.**

**You know what has beautiful dancing girls AND turtles? A Ninja's Dance, by Gia's soul. Go read it, it's awesome. **

**Another great one is 46 Days Later, by aloggedinreader. It has Sabriel fluff and... some Dean and Cas moments... sorta...**

**Here's the long chapter just as promised!**

* * *

"_And would you like tea Mr. Fluff?" Kitty asked the human sized rabbit doll that was once her favorite stuffed toy as a kid. _

"_Oh, no thank you Mrs. Lion. I couldn't have another drop. Your tea was delicious and not to mention the scones," The stuffed rabbit said, passing over his oversized red tea cup dotted with large blue spots before he grinned at her, "You're going to make someone very happy someday."_

"_Well… about that Mr. Fluff… I was thinking," Kitty said after taking the cup and saucer. She rubbed her thumb over the rim and bit down on her bottom lip, "I was thinking that… you know… maybe the whole marriage thing isn't for me you know?"_

_The stuffed rabbit tilted his head sideways and his left ear twitched as he moved his paws into the green lined pockets of his orange waist jacket, "But what about all of those times we played house? You were always so good at house."_

"_I know!" Kitty said pulling her knees up to chest, "I just… I don't like the… stuff... Like other girls do."_

"_Stuff?" Mr. Fluff asked. He leaned his head forward and looked up at her from the top of his lids waiting for reiteration. _

"_Well… you know… like um…" Kitty bit harder on her lip. How was she supposed to explain what __**stuff **__meant to her favorite childhood companion, "The uh… like the stuff that we saw mom and dad do Valentine's day after Connie went out with her boyfriend and I was supposed to be in bed, but I went to get a drink of water. Remember on the table…?"_

"_Oh!" Mr. Fluff said, pulling his paws from his pockets and tugging on his ears, "Yes um… I remember… __**stuff**__."_

"_Well um… guys want… um… guys and girls you know… want… stuff."_

"_But you don't want stuff," Mr. Fluff said crossing his arms. His whiskers twitched which was always a sign that he was thinking. _

"_No… I don't," Kitty said with a sigh. She hugged her knees tighter rocking the way she did whenever she held Mr. Fluff after she had gotten in trouble as a child. _

"_Mrs. Lion, I'm going to tell you the same thing that I told you after that fight with your mother. You should never feel pressured to do anything you don't want to. This is your life and you should live it how you want to."_

_Kitty stared at the friendly smile Mr. Fluff gave her as he patted her back. She didn't know what to say to that. So she didn't say anything, instead stuffing a scone in her mouth and chewing on it thoughtfully as she mulled it all over, "You're right. Even if I… I never get that in my life, it doesn't mean I have to be alone. I could… I could take a class."_

"_You could adopt," Mr. Fluff threw in. _

"_And of course I have the girls."_

"_Not to mention those poor souls you always find. Last month you helped that brother and sister get adopted and now."_

"_And now I have four talking turtles living in my apartment who don't know where their father is and I don't know how long I can really keep them unnoticed."_

"_Kitty," Mr. Fluff gave out a sigh before moving to stroke the nearly hyperventilating girl's hair, "It's going to be okay."_

"_You're right. You're always right. Of course it's going to be okay. Why wouldn't it be okay? It's not like the National Guard's banging on my door."_

_An echoed knocking sound echoed and the whole world seemed to shake. Kitty and Mr. Fluff both went toppling over and several glasses clinked and cracked. The scones were soggy, the tea pot's handle fell off and the checkered table cloth may never recover from the stain. _

"_Oh god! The National Guard's at my door!" Kitty exclaimed, her breathing picking up speed again. _

"_Kitty say it again, it's going to be okay," Mr. Fluff said from his laying position, he bit back a groan as he got up and moved to stroke the girl's hair again. It always calmed her down, "It will all be okay."_

_Kitty took in a slow, deep breath, "It will all be okay."_

"_Good," Mr. Fluff said and carefully patted her back in slow calculated movements, "Now wake up Nora."_

"_Nora?" Kitty asked her head popping up suddenly, "You never call me Nora, you know I hate that. The only ones who call me Nora are-"_

"**WAKE UP AUNT NORA**" Two small girls screamed as they barged through the bedroom door and flung themselves at the bed.

Kitty groaned as Serena landed on her stomach. Not the greatest feeling in the world. Now where was May-

"Ahhhhhh!" Michelangelo yelled as a little girl with dark pig tailed braids landed on his plastron. He tried to scoot backwards and away from his attacker, only to fall straight off the bed and land in a heap of blankets with a _'thump.'_

"Um…. Hi girls. Whaaat… what are you doing here?" Kitty asked taking in the scene in front of her from Serena who stared at little Donatello, who was clutching her arm and half hiding in her side, her eyes were big eyes and her jaw wide open. Michelangelo's shell was only emphasized by the fact that most of the blankets were trapped underneath it, his little arms and legs in the air wiggling as he struggled to get up. Maya just sat on the bed watching him for a moment before turning to her aunt, seeming completely unphased.

"It's Sunday," Maya said like it was the most obvious thing in the world and nothing strange was happening at all, "We always come over Sundays."

"Right," Kitty said, taking a long deep breath. In… out… in… out…. It would all be okay. She turned back to her nieces and started to nervously twirl her hair "So um… how exactly did you get in?"

"You gave moma an emergency key," Serena said, the shocked look having worn off, but her eyes still drifted to Michelangelo every few seconds, "Did you know you have turtles in your bed Nora?"

"H-help! I-I'm a t-t-turtle and I c-can't get up!" Mikey cried from his spot on the floor. He still continued to thrash and wiggle in an attempt for walking freedom.

Serena gasped out loud before giggling excitedly, "He talked!"

Maya just gave a big grin and slipped off the bed to move close to Michelangelo's face and poke his snout, "That's so cool! Say something else!"

"Maya!" Kitty scolded before attempting to move to help the poor tot, but a pale Donnie with an iron grip kept her in place, "Rena can you please help Michelangelo up?"

"Sure!" Serena said and hopped from her place on the bed. Kitty could literally feel Donatello relaxing at her side.

Serena fearlessly grabbed the little turtle's hand. Maya joined in grabbed the other and together the two held firm until Mikey got his balance back. Maya gathered the blankets that were caught underneath him moving them back to the bed as all was well now. Serena slowly moved toward Mikey, a little shyly with her hands behind her back.

"Are you okay?" Serena asked Mikey and started to search for any cuts or bruises on his person.

"I-I'm okay!" Mikey declared, making a show of patting himself off.

It was just at that moment that Raphael and Leonardo decided to make an appearance at the door.

"What happened?" Leo asked looking to his youngest brother. Leo could have sworn he heard him scream.

"Oh great, more humans," Raphael groaned the moment he caught sight of an excitedly jumping Maya.

"There's more?!" Maya exclaimed literally bouncing in place with an impossibly big smile on her face.

"Where are you hiding all of them?" Serena asked curiously, glancing at all the doors to make sure more weren't going to suddenly appear.

Kitty paused for a moment giving each of the six children in the room a glance. It would allll be okay. Deep breaths.

She turned to the girls first, "Um, Serena, Maya… This is Donatello," She patted the back of the small turtle who was practically hiding completely behind her now.

"Michelangelo," She nodded to the little turtle whose arm was still being held by Serena from her looking over a forming bruise on his elbow.

"Leonardo," She gestured to the turtle who was now joining Serena in the process of looking over a squirming Mikey.

"And Raphael," She finished with the scowling turtle who hadn't moved from the door frame.

"Guys, these are my nieces, Serena and Maya."

"Okay…" Maya said as all attention turned to her, "I just have one question: Does this mean I can be a shark now?"


	28. Ninja stars

**A special thanks to AJDLover for her review last chapter. **

**As always, please go read _A Ninja's Dance_, by Gia's soul. She deserves the attention and maybe if you all go bug her with reviews she'll post the chapter! Shhhh, this is totally unselfish of me... it's really a service of society... okay so maybe I want to find out what happens... heh, but back to her. The story's really great and you should all go read it. **

**Also _46 Problems_, the third segment of the _46 Series_, by aloggedinreader is coming to an end soon. Whether it's continued from there is really up for grabs. But if you're only someone who usually reads completed or lengthy stories, I'd say this trilogy's for you. **

**Lastly, this is probably one of two times that girls will show up and stick around for the course of a few chapters in the story. They will be here for the next few chapters, but then it will be a little while before they're back again for another lengthy segment. **

* * *

"Okay then, we've agreed on a final draft now right?" Kitty asked holding up the paper covered in various colors and scribbles for all of the children in the room to see.

"I think it needs more glitter," Maya said, trying to snatch the sheet from her much taller aunt's hand.

"May, dear I don't think I'll be able to put it in the copier with glitter on it, but it was a good idea," Kitty said moving the page further from Maya's reach.

"Nuh-uh!" Raphael protested, "It doesn't need any of that gunk on there."

"Will sensei even be able to read it?" Leo asked, hands behind his back as he studied the sheet carefully.

"H-he d-doesn't need t-to! O-oto-chan will t-totally be ab-able to sah..sah..sah-ense it w-was us!" Michelangelo exclaimed throwing his hands in the air.

"Totally?" Donatello asked him with a confused look, Leo and Raph each had their own surprised looks as well.

"I h-heard K-kit-ty sah-sah-say it."

There was a collective, "Ohh," between the brothers as Maya just giggled at the whole lot. Kitty had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep a straight face. Sometimes they were seriously too cute.

"Nora! The cookies are ready!" Serena called from the kitchen.

"Coming!" Kitty called back, leaving the page on the table to check on the cookies. She found Serena literally sitting on the cheery yellow kitchen mat staring at the oven and waiting for them to finish.

"See the timer went off! Now I want cookies."

"Are you sure that they finished _this _second?" Kitty teased before poking her elder niece in the side. It made her giggle then roll away from her aunt's reach and incidentally her spot obstructing the oven door.

Kitty grabbed an oven mitt and carefully pulled the two pans from the oven to be placed instead on the stove. She used a thin spatula to quickly separate the cookies from the pan before letting them settle in their spots once more to cool.

"You know moma just takes them outa the oven and leaves them," Serena informed.

"Yeah? Well that's why moma's cookies always stick to the pain," Kitty said with a nod. The adult snatched the timer and set it a second time.

"Ten minutes?" Serena cried in dismay, "But I want a cookie nooooow."

"You'll burn your tongue. Now come on," Kitty said swiftly wrapping her arms around the small girl's middle and swinging her up to be carried bridal style, "Let's go back and join everyone else."

"Aunt Nora!" Serena cried a single hand dramatically reaching back toward the cookies, "I'll miss you!"

"Sensei would be more likely to know it was us if we wrote it in Japanese," a voice that sounded suspiciously like Leonardo seemed to protest.

"Nuh uh! Dad reads En'lish fine! We should tell him where we are, not just leave a cruddy phone number," A voice that sounded disturbingly like a certain Raphael.

Oh god, everyone knew where this was going….

Two gasps were heard from the living room upon Kitty and Serena's entrance, one from the only female in the room and the other from the smartest turtle any of them knew.

"You said crud!" Maya exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at the largest turtle of the bunch.

Donatello just gasped again turning his attention to Maya and Leo smacked a hand over his eyes.

"Okay, okay enough. We are going to take the missing poster to the copier just as is. We've already agreed," Kitty said putting her foot down. Somehow she had a feeling that if Splinter was really out there, any indication of where his sons might be no matter what language, medium or color would be considered a blessing, "Now I need two extra sets of hands so I can carry back enough groceries for everyone."

"Me!" Maya cried and ran straight over to her aunt and literally hugged her around her thigh as a dispute of any protests. Maya wasn't really her first choice though, given the four year olds small stature.

"Ree?" Kitty asked hopefully. The young, almost six year old, girl grew like a weed. She was the tallest of the bunch, taking after her father in natural height.

"Huh?" The squirming girl asked from her spot in the doorway between the living room and kitchen. She was staring at the cookies again.

"Do you want to come to the store with me and May?" Please, please, plllllleaaaase say yes. This would be so much easier if she just said yes!

"Oh," Serena muttered. Her big eyes rolled to look towards the celling as she thought about it, "Nope."

"Okay," Kitty said, holding back a groan. There was no way taking just one of the boys would go over well, "Leo, would you like to come?"

A surprised Leonardo suddenly turned his head to meet her attention, "I-"

"Oh no lady!" Raphael cut in, "You ain't taking any of my brothers alone. There's no way!"

Kitty was just about to reply to the little turtle with puffed chest and inset frown, but Donnie actually surprised everyone.

"Why don't you go with her then?" Donatello said absentmindedly from his spot near Serena. He didn't actually seem to be paying much attention if the fact that he was poking Serena's long braid with the eraser end of a pencil was any indication.

"Yeah Raph, why don't you go then?" Leo said with a snort.

"Okay fine! Then I will!" Raphael exclaimed, stomping over to stand near Kitty and Maya, but noticeably separated.

Kitty just bit the inside of her cheek again, this time to keep from groaning. Of course it would be Raphael. Because a little turtle yelling at her again was just what she needed to complete this perfect day. The lavenderette just sighed. She understood why Raphael didn't trust her, but it wasn't easy to accept that she could literally do nothing about it.

"Um, Maya dear, can you grab my foundation from the bathroom? Raphael, please go get on your jacket, pants and shoes," Kitty requested, "Everyone else, please be good while we're gone. I have my cellphone and my number's still on the fridge. There's water bottles in the cabinet if anyone gets thirsty. Oh and Leo, don't let anyone have more than one cookie please.

A loud "Awwwwwwww!" was heard from the kitchen. Serena must have slowly scooted her way there again. Leonardo just nodded and moved to go play guard duty. He was especially good at that. A glance at Donatello showed him with –thankfully- safety scissors on the floor next to him, a few little hairs about an inch in length in one hand and a magnifying glass he got from goodness knows where. She'd deal with this later. At least it wasn't Maya's hair he had messed with….

Kitty found it odd that her little shadow was nowhere to be seen until she caught sight of a shell in the corner of the room. He was hunched over something on his stomach as he kicked his feet back and forth.

"Miiiikey, whacha doin?" Kitty asked a hand on one hip and a brow raised.

Mikey glanced over his shoulder and then spun around to hold up the 'Missing' page that was to be copied. Bright orange scribbles littered over the edges of the sign and the message. Michelangelo didn't even bother to hide the orange crayon nudged between his thumb and forefinger, "I-I ad-ded ninja s-st-stars! Now Se-se-se-… O-oto-chan will d-definitely k-know it's u-ush!"


	29. Quiet time

**Thank you to Gia's Soul for all of her awesome reviews.**

**Secondly go read her fic '_A Ninja's Dance'_ It has an adorable sleepy Leo and Splinter embarrassing people, isn't that always fun?**

**Also only one more chapter in the third segment of the _46 Series_ by aloggedinreader! I've helped on this story for over a year and a half now! Crazy it's almost done.**

**Lastly SORRY! I've been having trouble uploading for some reason. Like, entire buttons were missing from my page. I don't know why. It's like it hasn't loaded properly in a while. Anyway this is the first one of the lump and I'll admit I am still one chapter behind. I got called into work unexpectedly the other day and didn't get to write. Well here's part one of the five chapter lump.**

* * *

Three figures walked down the New York streets. One was an adult, womanly figured with colorful hair and even brighter, mismatched clothing patterns. The second was small in stature sporting the 'in' fashions for young girls. She even wore a child sized, pink Chanel purse. The third and final figure stood a little off to the side, a dramatic contrast from the last wearing noticeably raggedy clothing and so many layers it was hard to tell where the clothing stopped and the person began.

"Are we almost there yet?" Raphael grumbled, crossing his extra puffy arms. Kitty made him wear a coat.

"Nope! You're just gonna have to walk with us forever," Maya teased, tugging on her and Kitty's handhold to move closer to the walking talking turtle and _'neener'_ in his face.

Kitty rolled her eyes at the bantering pair. It had only been ten minutes, but they had been going since the first step from the apartment building, "We'll be there in about five minutes Raphael. The less you two argue though, the faster we'll be able to get there."

Raphael just 'hmphed' trying to cross his arms tighter under the navy puffed coat. It wasn't quite the picture of fear, but he certainly tried.

"Awwww look Nora! He's pouting! Awwww" Maya teased, continuing to giggle and coo at the generally moody turtle.

"Stahp it!" Raph barked at her teasing, his face reminded her of what she'd seen of Donatello when he was nervous. Who would have thought they could blush under all that green?

"May," Kitty warned in her best imitation of a mom voice, tugging the small girl a little closer to her side.

"What?" Maya asked giving her aunt an impossibly big grin. While her sister had big, bright and beautifully large eyes with long lashes, Maya's most noteworthy physical trait was a large and nearly always present smile that seemed to in turn make everyone around her happy as well. Usually, "It's not my fault he's being a baby."

"Maya!" Kitty scolded, the girl knew what she did wrong. She had to quickly step in front of her though as Raphael tried to lunge, "Raphael!"

Raph collided with Kitty's hip, but it didn't stop him from trying to go through her as he furiously swiped at air trying to reach for the four year old, "Wha'd you say?!"

The smile disappeared from Maya's face as she looked at the thrashing turtle. She squared her shoulders and stared him dead on before taking in a deep breath, "I SAID, It's not MY fault YOU'RE being a BABY!"

"I AM NAHT A BABY!" Raphael shouted back before anything could be done to stop it. His eyes looked shiny, like he was on the brink of tears. However, that hardly stopped his incessant attempts to smack the girl.

There was complete silence for a moment. Even the normal bustle of the city plummeted as the crowds of nearby people passing by stopped their conversation and looked on at the pair of yelling children with curious disapproval. Great, exactly what they needed. Attention on the mutant turtle she was harboring. Kitty huffed out a breath from her nose before kneeling down and putting a hand over both children's mouths. She knew Raphael had some anger issues and almost couldn't help, but be loud when it bubbled. It wasn't something his brothers seemed to share so it was curious where it came from. Maya on the other hand, well she was hardly ever really mad, but in some ways she took after her parents when it came to volume control. It was something Kitty had started working on with her after the school had called the girl's mother about it and Connie's big answer was to scream at her for it. They still had a long way to go.

"Enough you two. There is no reason to yell," Kitty said glancing between them, carefully making sure she received eye-contact.

"She star'ed it!" Raphael protested pointing a little awkwardly at Maya with his mittened hand.

"Nuh-uh!" Maya protested, stomping a foot as her hands clenched into fists at her side. She turned back to Kitty her normally smiling lips were pressed into a frown that looked a little odd on the usually happy girl, "He's been mean ta everybody all day!"

"Nuh-uh!" Raph protested this time.

"Yeah-huh!"

"Nuh-UH!"

"Yeah-HUH!"

"Shud up! No I hav'nt!" Raphael insisted stomping a foot similarly to the way Maya just had.

"Maybe if you'd just be nicer ta people than they'd be nicer too and ya wouldn't haveta be so grumpy all the time," Maya said sticking out her tongue and made the _'ppppphhhhhhhttttt'_ sound.

"I am TOO nice!" Raphael argued.

"No you're not!"

"If you two don't stop now I'm taking you both straight back to the apartment where you will sit in the corners staring at nothing, but the wall with duct tape over your mouths and ear muffs on so you can be at peace with your thoughts. Enough to think about what you've done."

Both children quieted instantly at that threat. Kitty smiled, taking one hand from each of the little ones and continuing their walk on.

Finally there was quiet.


	30. Just one

**Here's just a general thank you to everyone who has put up with my and this site's BS, thanks guys. Sometimes it's me and sometimes its FF oh well.**

**Also because I am not very witty tonight on the rest of the lump chapters I'm just going to throw out there that Gia's Soul and aloggedinreaders are both amazing writers and have great stories and you should go read them now!... nooow!...now.**

**Part TWO of the lump of many chapters.**

* * *

Donatello had thought it best to stay out of the situation before him.

"Pleeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaassssssssssssssssssssseeeeeeeeeee!" Serena begged from her place in front of Leonardo who was kneeling on a chair while wielding the feather duster to blockade the taller girl's path. She was the only one who could reach the counter without any sort of boost.

"Nora-san said only one. You had one," Leo insisted, poking her in the chest with the duster for good measure.

"I'm pretty sure she said only one _more_," Serena insisted.

"You know she said just one," Leo frowned seeming a little unsure himself now.

"No, she definitely said one more," Serena said.

Donatello noticed that his arm had lowered from his vigilant defensive hold. Donnie had never seen his eldest brother behave that way before. Leo was usually so certain of himself no matter what the situation. His brother's hardened guard stare had changed into unsure mush as he stared in Serena's big watery doe eyes. Donatello found himself wondering how the girl managed to do it. Was this the cooties thing he had heard so much about?

"But… what if Nora-san comes back and it she really did only say one?" Leo asked looking heavily concerned, "What if she gets mad?"

'_Pppbbbbbtttt'_ Serena snorted out loud before laughing, "Nora doesn't get mad. At worst she gets huffy and we get a-" Serena paused.

She then threw her voice to mimic her aunt's heavily accented angry voice, "-'stern talking to'"

Leonardo looked down at the ground and shuffled his feet, "But… I don't like talkings to."

Serena stared at him for a moment, blinked once and then started giggling again, "You're silly."

Leo looked up about to object when Michelangelo came running into the room something red hanging out of his hand.

"G-Guys!" Michelangelo yelled waving his arms around and consequentially the sheer, red, fabricy thing he was holding, "K-k-kitty has s-slingsh-ots! A w-whole drawer o-f th-them!"

He waved around whatever it was in his hand to show it off. Leo was also successfully distracted as well with a quizzical look on his face. Serena on the other hand took one look at the apparent slingshot, gasped, threw a hand over her mouth before breaking out into snickers and then full out laughing. It probably wasn't a slingshot then.

"I-I'm gonna g-go pra-tice!" Mikey declared before running off to the living room.

Everyone in the room knew it was probably a good idea to stop him, no one did. Leo still had cookies to guard, Donatello himself was too busy looking at the samples he had collected. He was going to figure out this human puzzle. The small wavy strands he snipped from Serena's braid were in one bowl. A couple long, curly lavender strands he was able to snatch from Kitty while she slept laid in another. Lastly a few straight, blond strands he had gotten from a brush in the girls' night bag that he wasn't sure who they belonged to were in the last bowl. Now only to get a sample from Maya whose black hair was more tight and kinky than her sisters deep brown waves.

Hair seemed to be the biggest variation between people. Though, he wasn't quite sure why they had it. Their dad said he had fur to keep himself warm. Did people have a special need to keep their heads warm? He continued to examine each of the samples with the magnifying glass which showed the differences more clearly. What made a person human? He wanted to know. Then maybe he could figure out exactly what made them… well… them.

"So… Mikey didn't have a slingshot did he?" Leo asked Serena who barely seemed to be breathing this point.

Seemingly unable to stop laughing at this point she just quickly shook her head back and forth, even accidentally bonking her forehead on the oven door in her chortles, but that hardly stopped her.

"What is it then?" Leo dared to ask. Donnie himself decided at this point it was probably better not to know. Sure, pursuing knowledge was great and all, but sometimes it was just better not to know.

Serena finally seized her continuous laughter and looked Leo dead on making his brother gulp nervously. She seemed to barely be holding back laughter though if the quivering smile on her face was any indication. She stood and moved next to Leo to whisper in his ear causing the small turtle to turn a slightly paler green.

"Why do they need that?"

She whispered some more and Leo just grew paler.

"Why would they do that?!"

She whispered one last time causing Leonardo to be practically rendered pastel.

"I can't believe anyone would want to do that," Leonardo said stiffly holding his hands over his eyes and looking like he'd give anything to go back in time and not live this moment.

Serena just continued her giggling, this time at Leo's expense. She seemed to think he was really funny, especially as he slid down to the floor and curled up shaking his head if the extra twinkle in her eye was any indication.

"Humans are gross."

Serena, noticing the small turtle curled up in fetal position, was finally able to force herself to stop laughing and took the chance to snatch three cookies stuffing them in her mouth before taking off running.

"HEY!" Leo yelled, quickly jumping up and going after her.

Donatello just looked at them and shook his head. He knew he should probably do something.

He didn't.


	31. Half way

**Thank you to anyone and everyone who actually looks at these notes. I love you. **

**Also I'm just gonna throw out there that reviews make me happy and I love hearing what you all think, but don't worry I'll keep writing anyway. **

**Hey you! Peasant! I command thee to read _"A Ninja's Dance"_ by Gia's soul. It's awesome. Also _The 46 Series_, by aloggedinreader is also great, but it might take you a while.**

**Part Three of the lump. I actually have a couple things I want to fix on part four so I'ma do that and then work on part five, tata! **

* * *

Raphael huffed when he finally noticed that Kitty was dragging him along by the hand. He didn't realize at first. She had caught him by surprise with her threat. She'd never said or done anything like that before. Whenever he said something she usually just ignored it. He wondered what made her so angry anyway. He didn't do anything worse than normal.

Her grip finally loosened enough for him to wiggle out of as they came up on the copy shop. Maya seemed to have no problems holding her aunt's hand however and even skipped beside her while humming happily. She hardly seemed affected at all.

Kitty grabbed the door and held it open for them. Maya took it graciously, skipping through and even pausing to curtsy on the way. Raphael just shuffled inside mumbling about 'not needing it' and 'bein able to open doors 'imself'. He noticed Kitty follow directly behind him and rushed forward to stand next to Maya instead, making some distance between himself and the adult.

Kitty walked straight to the counter and Maya alternatively went to a nearby bench that was for the waiting area. Raphael decided to follow after her instead of standing around awkwardly near Kitty. After Maya sat down, she pulled some chap stick out of her purse and applied it, ignoring the disguised turtle next to her. He wasn't going to the one to initiate conversation so ironically enough, he ended up just awkwardly standing by the four year old.

A strange silence hung in the air as Maya righted herself, dramatically rubbing her lips together and ending in a _'pop'_.

"I'm sorry," Maya said, turning and looking directly at Raphael's face.

"What?"

"I didn't mean to make you mad," Maya said, biting the inside of her cheek.

"Like heck you didn't!" Raphael objected piercing his brow. What a liar.

"Okay," Maya said grinning, "Yeah I did, but only 'cause you _are_ mean."

"Am not!" Raphael protested, puffing his cheeks out and taking a threatening step forward.

Raphael noticed Kitty look over with a disproving stare and Maya _'shushed'_ him. He begrudgingly complied.

"You really are, see you were about to yell again," Maya said raising an eyebrow, "Plus you made my aunt cry this morning and only meanies do that."

"I am not a meanie!" Raphael whispered loudly, "And I didn't make anyone cry."

"Yeah huh!" Maya insisted. "This morning when she tried to play hot potato with everyone and you refused to play and called it 'a stupid game' then walked away I saw a tear on her cheek! She wiped it away and smiled extra big. That means she's really sad and doesn't want anyone to know, but I know. You don't know 'cause you left."

Raphael bit his bottom lip thinking about it. He remembered leaving the game. He didn't know he made anybody _cry_.

Maya ended with a huff and frowned at the memory, but then a sly grin came upon the little girl's face, "It was really fun though after that. You probably wouldn't have liked it anyway. Too many people were happy."

Raphael just snorted and crossed his arms. He didn't have to deal with this.

Maya just poked his cheek, "Oh my gosh, you're pouting."

"Am not!" Raphael declared and growled.

Maya just giggled, "Okay you're not."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Raph asked, eying the small girl warily. She hadn't given up this easily all afternoon.

"Nothing," Maya said and simply kicked her feet back and forth keeping quiet.

Raphael found he started to feel awkward again when it was silent. He didn't really know what to say though.

"You should be nicer to my aunt," Maya said to Raphael again out of the blue.

Raphael didn't get the chance to respond before she continued.

"She tries to be really nice. Makes special treats and she listens to people. She's been specially nice to you guys. She even left the nuts outta the cookies!"

"Yeah, she's okay," Raph admitted, burying the lower half of his face in the fluff of his crossed arms.

"No, not okay, really nice. Even moma yells at us all the time, but Nora doesn't. Moma threw a plate once and it crashed and made a mess everywhere. Then Aunt Nora took us away for two whole weeks. A policeman came though and said we had to go home. Nora said she's trying to adopt us so we can stay with her all the time. I hope it works, but moma said she'd never let her,"

Raphael started to feel really uncomfortable. Their father practically never yelled either. He could only remember one occasion when they were trying to balance on the pipes. The four of them tried to go on one that was really high off the ground and above a rushing stream in one of the tunnels. Raphael himself had gone first, but then realized how high he was and had froze. Leo tried to follow after help his younger brother find his way back, but his foot caught and he slipped falling into the stream below. Luckily, Splinter had found them right on time and was able to save Leo from the rushing water.

After all four turtles were safely on the ground again, sensei had yelled asking how they could have done anything so mindless. Then he asked if they realized how dangerous it was for four small turtles. After looking down at said turtles however, who were all on the brink of tears except for Mikey who was already outright sobbing, Splinter stopped. Their sensei took in a long breath and then apologized for yelling before calmly explaining his own mistake was from fear for their safety.

Their father had never thrown anything. Raphael had been whipped with his tail once or twice with his tail however.

"-so promise you'll be nicer?" Maya asked. He seemed to have missed a whole portion of the conversation, but he just left out a huff and nodded.

"Yeah I'll try."

"Ready to go?" A voice asked from the side. Both kids looked up to see Kitty with a hefty stack of papers in her hand all matching the original one they made with crayons.

"Yep!" Maya announced, hopping down from her seat and taking the papers before making a sort of half loop out of them and pushing them into her purse.

"How about you Raphael?" Kitty asked and gave him a smile.

"Yeah…" Raphael said and swallowed. Well here goes, "And you can call me Raph."

Kitty's eyes widened for a second before her smile grew to a full out toothy grin, "Okay Raph, let's go!"

The adult threw one fist in the air dramatically and marched happily to the door that Maya had rushed to and then used all of her strength to push open.

"I think we should get a special snack at the store," Kitty said, giving the two children a wink.

Yeah, maybe she wasn't so bad.

"I want doritos," Raph said running after the two girls as Maya listed off probably every snack known to man and beyond as she continued to change her mind.


	32. Georgy boy

**As always a thank you to you lovely readers.**

**Also go read _"A Ninja's Dance"_ by Gia's Soul and the _46 Series_ by aloggedinreader cause... I say so?**

**Oh look, part four! Give in to the madness!**

* * *

Three figures trudged down the street, arms overflowing with groceries for seven. The adult of the three carried the bulk of the bags, but even the youngest and smallest of the group had four bags in her hands.

"Are we almost there yet?" She complained throwing her head back and she continued to stomp forward.

"Yes we're almost there," Kitty reassured. She was hoping Maya wouldn't just drop the bags the moment they got to the apartment, like last time. Egg went everywhere. Kitty tried to make sure either she or Serena were in charge of breakables from then on.

Just then, almost as if it had been written that way, the red brick apartment finally came into view for the dragging figures.

"About time," Raphael huffed. Somehow the walk back seemed longer than the walk there. Of course, there was no stop at the copy and print this time and the way back required strength training.

Maya stopped suddenly, making Raphael still beside her. She turned her head just enough to stare at him from the corner of her eye as a wide, but slightly smirking grin came across her face.

"Race ya!" Maya declared and took off before anyone could tell her otherwise.

"May! Be careful with the bread!" Kitty called after her with a sigh. She was gonna squish it.

"No way I'ma be beat by a girl!" Raphael shouted and took off behind her, "Especially not one who cheats!"

"I didn't cheat!" Maya called backwards to him, laughing as she still held the lead, "It's not my fault you're slow!"

"What?!" Raphael barked and pushed harder to catch up. The two flew down the sidewalk skillfully dodging the innocent pedestrians with random obscenities shouted their way. Kitty jogged behind them, just fast enough to keep the little ones within sight.

It was too bad for Raphael when a skater almost rammed into him and he had to quickly dodge to the side right as he was about to come up to the doors, giving Maya the half second advantage to reach them first.

"Winner!" Maya declared wiggling around like a malfunctioning sweeper bot. She then started to jump around in random flailing circles with her cheer, not noticing as she dropped the bread and landed on it, "Oopse."

"Way to go ya doof," Raphael huffed out just as Kitty came jogging up behind them. She totally wouldn't have won if she hadn't cheated.

The adult held her knees panting as she looked over the two smaller beings in her watch. How did they do it? Kitty lived in the city, she walked everywhere, but a runner she was not.

"Sorry I broke the bread," Maya said with a sheepish smile while holding up the noticeably squished bag.

"Ya wouldn't have squished it, if ya weren't such a klutz," Raphael chided.

Kitty just waved it off. What's done is done. There was no use being upset over it now, "It's fine girlie, we can make Paninis."

Raphael '_humphed,'_ probably at the lack of punishment and Maya just grinned before skipping off towards the stairs with a much slower and slightly downtrodden Raphael behind.

"I want a meatball one!" Maya called back to the Kitty who was lagging behind.

Raphael's jaw dropped momentarily, finding out that was even an option and suddenly perked up, "Me too!"

"Okay, okay!" Kitty responded, picking up the pace a little to reach the two excited children that were now bolting up the stairs. Kitty let out a huff and followed after. This definitely counted for her cardio workout. Screw those workout videos… maybe she'd do some extra practice at work.

Maya and Raphael made it to the apartment door in an almost unbelievably fast time. Kitty followed behind at her own pace, not even trying to cover up her breathlessness. Seriously, where did little kids get all their energy? Kitty shuffled forward, expertly balancing the various bags she held while fishing her keys out of the pocket of her coat.

Once the jingling bits of metal finally made an appearance, she shuffled them around with one hand until she found the correct key and maneuvered around until she could get it into the slot and unlock the door.

From the entrance, the three figures stood at the barrier between sanity and chaos. "Faith" by George Michael blared in the apartment and it was a wonder no one was banging on the walls or ceiling yet. All persons in the room were wearing various sunglasses and open button down shirts -thankfully Serena wore a tee shirt underneath- that had to have been from Kitty's closet.

Donatello had somehow found the collection of dolls the girls kept at the apartment and was dancing with a brunette one that came nearly up to his shoulder in height. It was almost reminiscent of swing dance, if one of the partners had two left feet and the other was a mannequin.

Leonardo on the other hand, was dancing with a duster, alternating between wielding it like a sword and a partner. He stood in the middle of Serena and Mikey in some sort of strange monkey in the middle like game.

Speaking of Serena, she was dancing her way all around the room with random silly moves she's probably seen on tv, everything from the sprinkler to the moves from cotton eye joe to the disco finger, all the while trying to get around Leo.

Michelangelo was the strangest sight of all. He was dancing too, but only with his feet as he moved and dodged around the room from a seemingly only half serious Leo. Mikey was wielding one of Kitty's lace bra's as some sort of slingshot while shooting chocolate chip cookies to Serena who was attempting to catch them in her mouth. Leo seemed to be trying to deflect them with the duster somehow. The youngest turtle also had some sort of ammo pouch fashioned at his side that looked suspiciously like a pair of striped panty hose.

"Cause I gotta have faitha faitha faith! I gotta have faith!" Serena sang along even after Kitty clicked the music off and all others in the room froze, "Oh you're home."

"You're b-back!" Mikey cheered and ran straight over to Kitty without a ounce of worry on his face, unlike his brothers who both looked positively guilt ridden, "L-lookie! I m-made a s-sl-sling sh-shot!"

Kitty stared down at the little turtle with a hand on her hip and a single brow raised. A tense silence held in the apartment between two guilty turtles, one young girl who was biting her nails nervously, two newcomers who looked too shocked to speak and the final turtle who looked on hopefully. Six out of seven were expecting some sort of earth wrenching disaster or explosion any minute now, at least yelling or a lecture.

What no one expected was the adult to burst into giggles, so much so that she started wheezing and slowly slipped down to the floor. She leaned against the wall while trying to get her bearings. When her abundant chortles finally ceased, she looked to Michelangelo and matched his grin before asking, "Can I try?"


	33. Michael man

**Thank you to Gia's Soul for her reviews! She's awesome.**

**Wanna know what else is awesome? Her story _'A Ninja's Dance' _Also, aloggedinreader's '46 Series' is pretty sweet too.**

**I'm really tired and it's been sorta crazy lately because my job's loosing a bunch of funding and we're trying to figure out what to do so please bear with me. I know I'm still behind one. I'll get there, someday eventually.**

**Also, I don't own any of the music that is spoken of in this chapter or the last. Nor do I own any movies ever. Well, copies of them yes, but the original? Nay. **

* * *

Eventually everything calmed down, er… well sort of at least. It wasn't necessarily that it was calm as much as it was there were less surprises. The dance party continued into the afternoon with several classics, everything from Aretha Franklin, to The Moody Blues, to Foreigner. Maya immediately joined into the chaos of it all; at some point she even took the doll's place as Donnie's dance partner. Raphael was a little more reluctant to join the fray as he was most things that didn't involve physical or emotional harm.

Kitty was in the midst of making paninis for lunch on her little tabletop grill. It was her one kitchen space taking splurge, in New York you had to conserve every bit of space you could, but who could really live without a grill? Each one of the sandwiches took four minutes. As Kitty was just putting on the last one, something caught her eye. She noticed that the moodiest turtle of the bunch was just sitting by himself. As the grill went, she took a chance and rushed over grabbing the biggest of the little turtles around the middle and swung him around in a circle in time with the music. He protested loudly, but she caught some giggles underneath the groans.

Feeling victorious, Kitty quickly spun one last time and moved back to the radio, maybe just one more George Michael song, she was certain they'd like this one. As the tape clicked in place, Kitty moved into a boxing position with her fists up while bouncing on her toes. Leo visibly perked up hearing the lyrics -or Serena's glaringly loud singing over top of it. She grinned and joined in as the chorus came up while moving back to the kitchen before anything burned.

"When the river was deep, I didn't falter, when the mountain was high, I still believed, when the valley was low, it didn't stop me, no no, I knew you were waiting! I knew you were waiting for me~" Kitty sang along in her own more appropriate tone, even the boys started to join in as they got a hang of the words. It seemed like the perfect song to lift everyone's spirits.

The adult let herself just zone out and enjoy the music as she got everything prepared for a picnic out. She took the girls to the park every week and the boys deserved just as much. Sure, it took two picnic baskets and a backpack for the extra large blanket, but it was worth it. Maybe if she was lucky, Raph would even help her carry one of the baskets.

Looking over at the turtle tot who, while seemingly enjoying himself, wasn't using his arms she thought not. Maybe make Serena do it.

Actually paying attention again, she noticed the music had changed. They must be using the same tape because the artist had stayed the same. Somehow Faith was back on again. It was a question who actually put it on, but Kitty found she really didn't care when she now saw all of the children in the room now re-enacting that scene from 'Ferris Bueller's Day Out.' She paused packing away food and crept back into the living room and made a silent grab for the polaroid.

A flash quickly consumed the room with a 'click' and all eyes were suddenly on her.

"What?" Kitty asked, giving an innocent grin and quickly hiding the camera behind her back.

"Noooorrraaa!" Maya yelled with a huff, hands firmly on her hips.

"Why'd you take our picture?" Serena asked with a more amused look on her face. She was the more easy going of the sisters.

"Cause you all are too cute," Kitty gushed teasingly. Both younger girls stuck their tongues out at their aunt, but odd thing was the boys just stared at them all with befuddled looks on their faces.

"What's a picture?" Donatello asked, though the poor boy actually looked so torn about asking that his eyes crossed just a bit as he stared up at the purplette.

"Th-that's not a p-picture," Mikey said like it was all one big trick, "You n-need cra-crayones fo-or a p-picture."

Kitty blinked and stood a little straighter, taken aback, "You know, like a photograph?"

Leo and Raph looked at each other then each just shrugged, Donnie just seemed to curl into himself more, pulling his arms and legs close to his midsection as he thought over the situation.

Kitty blinked again, the obvious concern that filled her nearly seemed to bubble out her ears. She carefully set the camera down, extracting the little square photograph from and shook it until the black faded and colors showed through. She handed it over to the nearest tot who happened to be Leonardo.

The little turtle sharply inhaled seeing the replica of himself. Raphael snatched it and nearly had the same reaction with an added "Hey!"

Michelangelo scooted next to his biggest brother and then grabbed the back of his shell and used it to give himself leverage enough to hop and see over his bigger brother's shoulder, "Woah! T-th-thats me!"

Donatello scootched his way in between Leo and Raph after the latter turtle pushed his littlest brother off before giving his own breathy response, "...Wow…"

The technologies they were familiar with was so strange, Kitty thought. The television didn't even blink at, but an old klunky polaroid camera found at the flea market somehow got a miracle maker reaction from the boys. She found herself questioning how they'd react to video cameras. Maybe it was worth renting one at some point. It was a wonder that not even Donatello seemed to have investigated how the moving pictures on the box worked by his reaction to the photo.

After a long moment of examinations, Leo turned to Kitty the light of wonder still twinkling in his silvery blue eyes, "Why?"

It took her a moment to register what he was asking exactly, but when she did Kitty patted his shoulder reassuringly, "I just wanted a keepsake, you know for special memories."

Leonardo nodded, but still looked just a bit worried about it. Thinking on it, she realized why. They probably never had their picture taken before so no one could find any evidence of them, even if they didn't know it. Their father or master or… whatever he was probably did it intentionally.

Kitty bit her lip, thinking of how hard everything must be for them. She couldn't imagine never taking pictures. They probably didn't have many keepsakes either, if they had to uproot their home, they would of had to quickly. What a sad way to live, never really connecting anywhere….

When the purplette was given the photo back, she was torn on whether to destroy it or not. After a moment of consideration, she opted not to. She knew she would have to be careful with it, but in the end it wasn't for herself anyway. If Splinter ever did resurface, she wanted to share with him some of the precious moments he missed out on. Kitty found herself glancing at the girls and knew that being away from a child one held dear was never easy.

Having enough of the silence, Serena moved over to the radio and hit the play button. The effect was almost instantaneous as everyone seemed to jump out of their quiet wonderment. A slower song came on from the same tape, but Kitty was still a little zoned out and didn't pick up on it right away from the music.

It actually played for quite a bit before the woman's head suddenly snapped up, pure panic written all over her face. She rushed over as fast as her legs would carry her, even vaulting over the couch and clumsily knocking straight into the table the radio was previously sitting on.

She knew that song.

It was the very _last_ song the boys should be listening to right now.

In fact, it shouldn't even be on the list. The last thing she needed was four depressed turtle tots on her hands.

Sure, the radio was destroyed now, but at least it stopped playing.

'_Father Figure'_ started playing.


	34. Take down

**Thank you to sundance1989 for the review and thank you to all the new follows and favorites!**

**Also, wanna read a cool story with ninja butt kick and people getting shot? You should go read _A Ninja's Dance_ by Gia's soul. Also the _46 Series_ by aloggedinreader is also ending soon, but it's still fantastic if you have some time to kill. **

**What? Me procrastinating writing about TMNT to watch TMNT? pssshhhhh…. I would never….pshhh…. shhhh don't tell anyone *shifty eyes***

**Okay so maybe I sorta am, but I'm also rewatching to help plot where I want to go with this and follow up stories.**

**This is an extra long chapter though so I hope it makes up for me being behind a little. **

* * *

"So… why'd you break the radio again?" Leonardo asked for the fifth time since leaving the apartment. Kitty kept trying to dodge the question, she simply couldn't tell him the truth and yet, she was afraid of any answer she did give impacting the tot a little too much. He took everything so seriously sometimes. Leo was a lot like play dough, if it could talk; he was always trying to be moulded into something he thought was better. It was an admirable trait in such a young boy, but barely being an adult herself, the young woman hardly felt she was the prime example he should be following. Yeah… no, no young mind should be so impressioned on by a girl who makes her living with exotic dancing.

"I'm just a little clumsy sometimes," Kitty said with a shrug, patting the child once on the head and moving on to see what the others were up to before he could ask too many more questions.

"So clumsy that you jumped over the couch?" Leo asked as the adult walked away.

Turned away or not, she could practically see the way the little turtle scrunched up his nose with the question. Leo's look of confusion was the cutest of his brothers, none of the younger three wiggled their snout the way he did. Holding back a smile -because heaven forbid he see her amusement at his expense- she continued on, pretending like she didn't hear the question.

The purplette moved to the field where Raphael and Serena could be found, leaving Leonardo to his own devices on the monkey bars. The two were playing some sort of modified version of football and chase with Michelangelo cheering them on from the side lines. It seemed the youngest turtle turned traitor because by the time Kitty caught sight of the game, the tiny turtle was cheering on Serena rather than his own brother. Whatever it was, it looked like Rena's longer legs seemed to be just enough edge to keep her in the lead, much to her opponents frustration. It probably didn't help that despite only being a few inches taller than his brothers, his shell was substantially bigger than the others. The poor boy was probably up for a growth spurt soon, but until it happened he'd be a bit weighed down for a while.

She had to give the little guy some credit though she thought, watching as he took a nose dive trying to tackle the taller girl who was able to dodge just out of his reach. Call it bullheadedness, but from what she'd seen, Raphael never gave up. Kitty watched on as the turtle fell almost countless times with substantial amounts of teasing from the older girl.

Watching her dear, sweet little Rena blow raspberries in the fallen turtles face before laughing at his fallen and failed form. Kitty decide it was time to intervene. A few brisk steps forward had Kitty by the struggling turtles side as he wobbled around, trying to gain balance as he was knocked down again.

Serena didn't look back as she ran for the edge of the field, the lanky girl threw down the football before jumping up and tauntingly cheering, probably to fuel her own ego over anything. Mid way through, Mikey joined her in her celebration. From a distance, it looked as if Serena was taking it upon herself to teach her new friend the art of high-fives.

Kitty crouched down and mentally pushed aside her instinct to physically comfort the small child laid out on the ground. If it was any of the others she wouldn't have hesitated. Michelangelo she found was always open for hugs, twirls, tickle fights and any sort of attention he could get. Donatello didn't seem to mind hugs or physical attention either, when he could get passed being embarrassed. Even Leo seemed to appreciate it when she squeezed his shoulder encouragingly or gave pats on his shell. In fact, she had secretly vowed she would get a hug from the oldest of the little turtles one day.

Raphael though, was a little more complicated, especially since she had just seemed to have gained some sort of approval after being nearly constantly shot down. She wanted to build some sort of camaraderie on that approval, but she also felt a bit tentative in fear of pushing too far.

What if she messed up and he gave her the cold shoulder again?

Kitty tucked her hands under her bent knees and locked them in place by bending them until her hands were nearly squashed between the folding limb. At least this way she wouldn't reach out and do anything prematurely. Kitty tilted her head to the side feeling instant pity for the kid, but bit the inside of her cheek to keep it from showing on her face. He may not appreciate her sympathy.

"You okay?" Kitty asked, her forearms literally shaking from her subconscious need to fix everything. She wanted so bad to reach out, gush and hug the little turtle until everything was okay in the world and nothing ever hurt again. Somehow though, she didn't seem to think that tactic would work on Raphael.

The turtle grunted, pushing himself up to his knees before unsteadily raising to his feet, "Yeah, I'll get her...*huff*...this time."

He said it like it was a life or death vow and not one on one football in the park.

"How about a team up?" Kitty asked as the little turtle as he heavy pants escaped him. He was crouched forward with his hands on his knees. It seemed he was trying to get his second wind.

"No...*pant*...way," He said before straightening up. "I can do this."

"Oh, I know that," Kitty said with a light tone in her voice as she shrugged her shoulders, "The way I see it though, they're cheating."

"What?!" Raphael exclaimed, suddenly full of energy again. It seemed that the little turtle had no tolerance for cheating, at least when it was against him. She'd seen the guy steal Donnie's weapon during pillow fights one too many times often to believe he was completely innocent.

"Well think about it, Mikey's over there with Ree, cheering her on, creating a distraction so she can outrun you. I mean, obviously you'd be able to catch her without her outside assistance. I say we even the odds," It was bull, but it seemed like the little guy needed an ego boost if he was to have any chance.

Raphael's eyes widened as he stared at the adult for a moment, thinking over this new notion. Then something amazing happened, he smiled. It was the first time Kitty had ever seen Raphael smile and it was at her no less.

"What ya have in mind?"

* * *

"Hey! Aunt Nora! You can't do that!" Serena shouted when she came face to face with her opponent, hoisted on the shoulders of the much taller adult. She quickly grabbed the ball and faked right before doing a quick twist and heading left.

"Did you hear any rules against it Raph? Cause I sure didn't," Kitty said with a smirk, nearly in reach of the girl.

"Nope!" Raph said with a grin in his voice.

Kitty was able to get within reach of her niece using superior height that comes with adulthood and wrap an arm around her middle before, not exactly tackling per say, but mildly forceful pinning. Raphael used his position to leapfrog off Kitty's shoulders and quickly spin around to make it to the end zone on the other side of the field scoring a touchdown.

The little turtle happily jumped up and down, cheering at his achievement and almost rubbing salt in the wound, Michelangelo switched alliances again and cheered on his brother before loudly declaring he was secretly backing him the whole time.

"You cheated," Serena said with a huff, crossing her arms under her aunt's loose hold.

"Well you were being mean," Kitty said and poked her nose with a sly grin, "Maybe if you had more sportsmanship I wouldn't have had to."

"Yeah, yeah," Rena said rolling her eyes. Of course her aunt would find a way to use this to lecture her.

"Yeah," Kitty said with a grin, catching her nieces eye again to signal the discussion wasn't over, "Plus, look how happy he looks, isn't that worth losing sometimes?"

Serena looked over to see Raphael overjoyed for the first time since she met him. She had mostly avoided him for that reason so far, but when he saw she brought a football he challenged her. Sure, beating him was fun, but it was pretty cool to see him happy. Maybe her aunt did have a point… a little one, "I guuuuuueeeesssss."

Kitty just winked at her knowing the girl was just a little too empathetic deep down not to care.

"I'm gonna go check on the others, now play nice," Kitty ordered, patting her niece's cheek playfully.

Serena just rolled her eyes again, "Yeah, yeah."

* * *

Walking up to see Donatello and Maya on the jungle gym was a little bit of an odd sight. Donatello himself it seemed was playing himself on the checkers set he insisted on bringing -after demanding to be taught how to use the chess set later. The weirdest part was though, he wasn't in the outfit he came in any longer. Somehow he had obtained grey Raphael's fedora, Leonardo's black hoodie and Michelangelo's set of white scarf and mittens. A quick glance at the others revealed that they all had indeed switched out some items in between them. Leo was now in a burgundy sweater, Raphael had a yellow baseball cap and Michelangelo had a colorful striped scarf with brown mittens.

She was about to ask why he had the items, until Maya came running over with Serena's homework book and placed it by the turtle who seemed to be basically ignoring her as she readjusted the clothing items on him.

"So um… hi May," Kitty said, hoping for some sort of explanation.

"Hi Nora," Maya said not even looking at her aunt while slightly out of breath.

"Sooo…," Kitty said before raising an eyebrow wondering what the youngest of the bunch was up to, "Whacha doin?"

Maya, looked up at her aunt with a million watt grin before declaring, "We're getting married!"

"What?!" Donatello shouted, looking up for the first time since Kitty had been there and knocking over the checkers pieces in the process.

"Yup, we're getting married and you're going to have to stay with me forever and ever!"

He looked just a tad concerned.

Kitty just giggled behind her hand as Donatello took off running to get away from the smaller girl while Maya took off after him yelling "Get back here! The ceremony's not over!"


	35. Little foot

**Thank you to Gia's Soul for her awesome reviews and to my new followers. I love you all!**

**Wanna go read about doctor drama and heisting a hospital for 'the good stuff'? Lol You should go read _A Ninja's Dance_ by Gia's Soul**

**Also! We just finished the _46 Series_! Yaaaaay! Hey, hey everyone, you should read it.**

**I am SO sorry for not posting in maybe forever. I am really freaken tired. I know, I'm practically a week behind now. Ugh. It's just like every time I want to work on it, I have no energy and keep falling asleep. Plus a big snowstorm hit here and I almost got frostbite the other day. Like I went to go take a shower after and not only was most of my skin splotchy red, the shower was up to steaming and I barely felt it at all on my body. The only part that did feel it was my feet, but apparently my skin was so cold that by the time the water reached my feet, it was cold again. I was outside so long trying to shovel some of my neighbors driveways and sidewalks. I didn't want any of my elderly neighbors to have to come back and do it, especially the ones who work late into the evening. No good deed goes unpunished I guess?**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Land Before Time or anything related to it.**

* * *

"Can we watch a movie?"

You two have school in the morning and I'm the one who has to get you up."

"Pleeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaasssssssssssssseeeeeeeeeeee~" Four voices chimed together in a chorus. These particular four of the group had been talking about what to watch the whole way home.

"Fine, ONE movie."

"Wh-why can't th-that one t-talk?" Michelangelo asked with his head tilted to the side, wide eyes twinkled curiously.

"Cause he's dumb like you," Raphael quipped in carelessly one cheek perched on his palm, not even looking away from the screen.

Before Kitty -or Leo- could say anything, Maya had already punched him in the shoulder hard enough to knock him from his lazy position, to instead fail his arms and legs around as his shell got caught in the corner of the couch.

"Not everybody can talk!" Maya decreed and crossed her arms, before stomping her right foot once to show her extreme displeasure. Maya never was one to hold back, in anything she did.

"Hey I-"

"Everybody's diff'rent an' ya shouldn' be mean just cause somebody can't do the same things as you or seems different-," May lectured the bigger, stronger, more armored boy fearlessly, "even if diff'rent means they talk diff'rent than you, or you know, a turtle shell."

Maya poked him in the center of the plastron once before walking back to her seat at Leo's feet like nothing happened. Everything was silent as the onlookers took in the scene. Serena, who was used to her sister's antics by now was the first to recover and quickly moved to help Raphael back into a sitting position. She bit her lip thoughtfully for a moment before catching the abused turtle's eye.

"Plus-" Serena started before giving the youngest turtle brother a one armed hug around the shoulders, "You shouldn't be mean to family."

Mikey just grinned up at the taller girl and squeezed back after a moment. He didn't say it out loud, but somehow he knew she understood his thanks.

Normally, that would be the point that Kitty would send her younger niece into time out. She knows better than to act out violently. However, she found pride swelling up from deep in her belly from the messages her nieces tried to teach Raphael. The messages she hoped they would remember and incorporate every day of their lives. Messages she hoped they would one day teach as well, as they just had, even if in a slightly less than desirable way. They were messages she had strived so hard to teach them after years spent struggling to learn the ideas herself. With tears welling up in her eyes, she decided just this once, to let it go.

Raphael sat quietly from that point on, However, something make Kitty really doubt he was paying much attention to the movie.

The only other disturbance had taken place when Littlefoot's mother died, leaving the tiny longneck orphaned. There was outcry from every child in the room and a few tears from the various protesters. The response had actually gotten so bad that Kitty had to fast forward the tape unto happier parts.

* * *

**I also wanted to say, I'm sorry this is so short. I had to split what I wanted to write in two because of being really tired and kinda dizzy. Last major chapter with the girls in it for a while so say bye bye. **


	36. Operation bed

**Thank you to dragonbreath88 for her review.**

**As always if you wanna read a kick-cool story with Ninja beat downs, mystical artifacts, gang violence and our favorite teenage mutant ninja turtles, you should totally read _A Ninja's Dance_, by Gia's Soul. **

**Also, if you're a Supernatural fan, I recommend the _46 series_ by aloggedinreader. We just finished the official 3 part series. So if you're up for a nearly 120 chapter spanning series, I would say it's the way to go. **

**This is the official last chapter where the girls are physically present for a long while because they're only secondary characters in this story meant to hash out Kitty's story a bit, but they don't really have much impact at all on what's happening and no lines so yeah, last chapter was really the last one really featuring them.**

* * *

As the credits rolled, Kitty sat up from her curled up position next to Donatello. One glance over revealed Donnie was already snoozing away with his head leaning against her hip. On the other side of the couch was a snoring Raphael with Serena's head on his lap while the rest of her was spread out taking up what was left of the length of the couch. On the floor underneath her, Mikey and Maya slept side by side. She was cuddled sprawled out, her arms and legs a tangled mess in the blanket and pillow nest the two had made at some point during the movie. Mikey was a little more fortunate, only having his legs draped atop of her while his arms and torso was curled around Maya's brown stuffed bear. Lastly, Leo sat atop the head of the couch, with his feet dangling over the back cushions. He was the only one of the six still awake.

Despite the fact that the movie was over, Leo still stared at the screen with unwavering concentration, or at least toward the screen, elbow to knees with his chin resting against the knuckles of both fists. Kitty carefully held Donatello's small form still as she slowly, but carefully maneuvered out from underneath him, determined not to wake the little turtle up. He stirred and adjusted at nearly every shift, but she decided to use this to her advantage and tried to get him to get him to help in shuffling away from her. She inched his figure backwards until the small boy was nestled in the corner. Finally able to get out of her sedentary position, she reached her arms up over her head, causing a couple of '_crack' _to pop from her stiffened spine. Feeling a little more mobile, she had to tiptoe her way over the two that were strewn across the floor, thankful for the balance she gained from dancing.

When she was able to get a stable position in reach of her elder niece, she reached down and steadily slid her hands beneath the girl's lower back and neck and propped her up. She then pulled the almost six year old, Serena awoke enough to wrap her lengthy limbs around Kitty's shoulders and sides to cuddle her skinny form against the adult in a deadlock grip. The real trick would be getting the girl off. Feeling a little adventurous, she decided to try and get Maya too. After some creative shifting, she was able to reach down and shift Michelangelo's legs away from the girl before picking her up in a bridal style hold. Unlike her sister, the younger girl didn't even stir. she would have looked dead if not for the rise and fall of her chest, and the light, but reassuring snores that escaped from her sinuses.

Leaving Leonardo to his thoughts for now, she moved and quickly put her nieces to bed. Well, relatively so at least. Maya was easy; drop, tuck and then she's done. Serena was a little more difficult. She clung to her aunt like a spider to it's web. Kitty nearly had to pry the girl off with a sick and she literally had to slowly shift a stuffed animal between them for the young girl to cuddle with, replacing the adult's person. In the back of her mind, a small part of Kitty wondered if the little girl did it on purpose just to be difficult. However, one look at her beautiful nieces sleeping forms reminded her she didn't care. She loved them no matter what.

Tiptoeing back into the living room, Kitty turned off the TV as the VCR auto re-winded the tape back to the beginning. A quick glance from the corner of her eye revealed that the small turtle didn't didn't even flinch at the change. He just continued to stare blankly, with only the reflection of grey eyes staring back at him.

Kitty rose a brow at the general action. How many kids his age have that kind of concentration? It was pretty mind blowing. She just shrugged it off for now, "You and your brothers can sleep in my room for the night, I'll camp out here for now."

Leo gave her a quick glance before nodding. She'd have to find a better option for the future if they were still there the couch was kinda lumpy. Unlike the kids, it wasn't well proportioned for her to be comfortable on it, but for now Mikey and Maya's blanket nest didn't seem like such a bad idea. Moving Michelangelo and Raphael was easy enough. Mikey basically curled up into a ball on the floor since being moved away from Maya. He fit easily in one arm. Raph was a little harder from sheer size reasons, but nearly as out of it as Maya was. Carrying two turtles was a little more challenging than carrying two humans. She knew she _should_ have made three trips, one for each of the sleeping boys, but she didn't. Instead, she propped most of Raphael's weight against her hip to give her wingspan a bit of relief at holding the turtle sideways instead of parallel to Michelangelo who she held higher with his head nestled into the crook of her neck. She'd probably never be able to do it again, but getting them both into the queen sized bed was pretty simple.

Despite all of the earlier name calling, teasing and betrayal, Michelangelo curled up to Raphael's plastron and Raphael wrapped an arm over Mikey's shell. Yeah, the two could be mean to each other on the surface, but deep down they were definitely brothers.

Getting those two squared away, you'd think the hard part would be over, well you'd think wrong. Donatello was difficult. He had been difficult just to move away from. Picking up the little turtle and trying to move him into the bedroom was almost as stressful as a game of Operation. One wrong move and it was all over. Leo finally looked up from his intense and unfocused starting to give her a smile, amusement twinkling in his eyes as he watched her struggle. No, Donatello was not easy.

When she did finally manage to pick the turtle up and carry him off to bed, he grabbed onto her arm in his mostly sleeping state. The adult gingerly laid Donatello unto the soft floral patterned sheets, though he still hadn't yet let go of her arm. She leaned down and kissed his forehead as she had done with his directly older and younger brothers when she had laid them down, "Goodnight Donnie,"

Kitty gave a smile, seeing the boys at peace as well. Something about sleeping children always brought the girl a sense of tranquility and just a bit of accomplishment. Considering how active kids could be during the day, there was just something nice about knowing that their energy wasn't truly infinite.

Kitty moved to pull away from the chartreuse colored turtle, but was unsuccessful at escaping the little one's grip. Using her other hand, she tried to carefully pry his fingers off.

"Nuh," Donatello muttered before just hugging her arm tighter between his two little arms

"Donnnnie," Kitty sigh, trying slip out of his surprisingly solid grip, "Oh come on."

"Nuuuuuh," Donnie groaned at her and kicked his feet up and down for a few seconds before settling once more.

"Donnie, you gotta let me go," Kitty groaned, literally trying to pry his arms off with her other hand.

"Nuh!" Donnie responded before wrapping his legs around her arm as well. She wasn't even sure if he was awake or just unconsciously reacting in his mostly asleep state.

"You're never gonna get away like that."

Kitty turned her head to see the last and eldest of the four brothers smirking at her like he was laughing inwardly. Whatever was bothering him before was not at the forefront of his mind right now and while she was thankful for that fact, she hardly wished to be the object of his amusement.

"While Donnie's usually pretty easy to deal with, when Don gets tired he gets cranky. When he's cranky he becomes almost impossible clingy, short tempered and refuses to listen to anyone. It makes any changes during bedtime almost impossible and mornings can be a nightmare if you're the one stuck waking him up," Leo explained, obviously been the one to wake the small turtle several times if his knowing look was anything to go by.

"Oh yea, so what do you suggest?"

The young boy moved to stand beside the adult with a grin on his face before he reached across the bed and just barely ran a single finger across the flat of Donnie's foot. The cranky turtle's toe's wiggled and he shifted around to move closer to his brothers and incidentally loosen his grip on Kitty's arm. Instead, his hands gripped the ridged edge of Raphael's shell.

"He's ticklish?" Kitty asked, holding back an amused snort. She wasn't sure why, but Donnie just never quite seemed like the ticklish type to her.

"Only on the bottoms of his feet and the spots just underneath where his plastron and shell connect on his side. Raph's ticklish on his armpits and behind his knees and Mikey's ticklish basically everywhere. " Leo said crossing his arms with a smirk. He seemed to think he was the all knowing information bringer or something.

"Oh yea, and what about you?" Kitty asked with a brow risen.

The smile suddenly dropped from his face.


	37. Sweet dreams

**I actually had something else planned, but something prompted me to write a Leo chapter. Something just made me feel like he's been a little bit pushed aside recently. So here you go. **

**As always, if you wanna read a sueprcool ninjariffic story with our favorite turtles in them, please go read _A Ninja's Dance_, by Gia's Soul. **

**Also, me and aloggedinreader just finished the _46 Series_ for all you Supernatural fans. **

**Lastly, a big thank you to everyone for over six thousand views. That's awesome!**

* * *

"Surrender Leo!"

"No!"

"Say you surrender!"

"Never!"

"Then face my wrath!"

Kitty held Leonardo down by his plastron with her left elbow while tickling the little turtle with her right hand, just _above_ the area where his shell and plastron connected.

This whole ordeal had actually been quite educational. She learned a few new things about Leonardo and the turtles as a whole. For starters, the only other place Leo was ticklish was on his neck. She also learned that they could retract partly into their shells, especially their heads. He had used this to protect himself from the onslaught of tickle torture from his temporary guardian. The cheater.

The little overachiever squirmed beneath her hold, but held his jaw firm, refusing to laugh. She knew he wanted to though. She would make him laugh before this night was over or give up, whatever came first.

"Nuuuuuu!" He half whined and half yelled, struggling to find a way to slip out from beneath her superior adult strength. If he could just get out of her grip….

"You will never escape me!" Kitty taunted and poked his neck, forcing his attention away from any sort of half scheme he had been trying to concoct.

Somewhere, deep down the adult knew that this would all blow up in her face somehow, someday, but for now she was enjoying it.

"I… hahaha! I give! Haha!" Leo said finally, yielding to the adult.

"And evil shall now be spread throughout the whole world with no opposition!" Kitty joked, before poking him one last time on the neck and grinning at him as he squirmed.

Leo said nothing, just finally let all of his muscles relax. After a tentative moment, he scooted closer to the caramel colored woman as her jet eyes peered down at him. Something about them made him feel like she could see right into his very soul. Her eyes reminded him just a little of his sensei's. Maybe it was the deep, consuming darkness of shadow colored eyes that made him feel… safe. Like the all encompassing darkness of her eyes and of his sensei's eyes seemed to envelop him in a blanket and a shield all at once, protecting and comforting him.

She rose a brow toward him with her head tilted just slightly to the left. Not a good sign, it means she suspects something.

"What's on your mind little lion heart?"

Leo blinked curiously at the name, "What?"

"Leo, it means lion. Leonardo actually means bold lion, I remember reading about it in my art history class when we were studying da vinci."

"Who?" Leo asked, raising his own eye ridge. She had honestly lost him.

"You're name, it's after the artist right? It has to be, between the four of you…" Kitty started, wrinkling her brow as her mind seemed to try and process through something.

"What's an artist?" Leo asked. The word sounded familiar, but he couldn't seem to place a meaning to the word.

She stared at him silent for a moment. Her eyes seemed to scan over him like she was pulling his every layer with just her eyes. The only person who had ever stared at him like that before was Master Splinter and usually, he always seemed to get into trouble for it somehow.

"How about I tell you another time. It's a little complicated to explain. So, now back to you, what's on your mind?"

Leo bit down on his bottom lip, he could feel nervousness clutching at his chest and squeezing. In all honesty, he wasn't even truly certain that trusting this woman was the right thing to do. He hoped so, but how much was he willing to trust her with? What would Master Splinter say?

"I...Do you… think we'll ever find Master Splinter?"

She smiled down at him and the tightness in his chest eased. Their sensei had told them time and time again that the surface world would never accept them, never understand. Leonardo didn't doubt the truths in his fathers words for a second, but maybe, just maybe they had lucked out enough to find someone who really did want to understand. Master Splinter also often told them only a fool turned away the gifts fate has given them. Leonardo had always assumed he was referring to himself and his brothers, but maybe it applied in other situations as well.

"I can't say much for the dedication of a parent to their child, I haven't had much positive experience in that area myself. However, if your father is as determined and capable as you all have led me to believe, then I think _he'll_ find _you_. I know I would do anything for my precious people," Kitty said looking down at him and straight into his own silver eyes. Leo had moved closer to the woman than he had initially realized.

He really wasn't sure at all when he had lain his head against her lap. He must have moved toward her instinctively. She didn't seem to be paying much attention either as her hands automatically seemed to move the base of Leonardo's neck as she started to rub circles into it. . He could feel sleep fighting to engulf him under her ministrations. He did notice however, that she glanced to the girls room though at her mention of 'precious people.''

"So yes, I do think you will see each other again soon."

Despite nearly succumbing to sweet restfulness, the small turtles natural thoughts overtook him. He wondered where Splinter was. If he was okay. He missed his father and he knew his brothers did too. He wondered what his father was doing at that moment. Surely he wasn't being coerced to sleep by a nice woman who reminded him of the stories that Splinter told them all of Tang Shen, the stories of her warmth and kindness. Would Tang Shen have rubbed his neck as well if she were present? Would Master Yoshi have helped care for them even with their uniqueness? There were so many questions and so many things he wanted to understand. Most of all however, he wanted his father back. He wanted his dad to tuck him in and rub two claws gently over his forehead and then sing in the deep throaty chats that he didn't really understand, but liked anyway.

"...Nora-san?..." Leo asked after a long moment of silence. Kitty glanced down at him, without stopping her massage with widened and waiting eyes, "Will you uh… will you sing? Sen...sensei used to sing to us in what he said were folk songs until we fell asleep."

"Well, I don't know any folk songs," Kitty said with a frown to the little turtle.

"Oh… that's okay," Leo said before moving an arm to push himself off of her and put himself to bed.

"But I do know a song about an artist, maybe you'll even understand what it means?" Kitty said, her from becoming a smile, "Only if you'd like to listen though, I'm not very good at this sort of thing."

Leo tensed for a moment as he thought it over. He really shouldn't have asked in the first place. He wasn't quite sure what prompted him to. He's been away from his brothers too long. He should go and make sure they're safe. One look though, in those waiting dark eyes and Leonardo found himself nodding before letting his tense pose relax once more. She licked her lips once before closing her eyes and taking in an audibly deep breath.

"Starry starry night, paint your palette blue and grey," She started slowly before taking one of his hands in a warm grasp and giving a reassuring squeeze, "Look out in a summers day, with eyes that know the darkness of my soul."

As she continued on, Leo found himself enjoying the soft melody. It was nothing like how his father sang his deep and almost meditative tones, but he found something soothing anyway in her light almost whispered tones and reminded him a little bit of the chirping sound his father said came from the morning birds when they were in the tunnels near central park.

"Now I understand, what you tried to say to me," She continued. Leo found himself entrapped by the words. A story playing out in front of his eyes, slowly becoming clearer and clearer, "And how you suffered for their sanity and how you tried to set them free."

A pretty sound came from the distance, he wasn't completely sure where anymore. It seemed to be all around him, but still so far away. He felt… relaxed though. Something in him knew that everything was alright. He wasn't sure why though.

"They did not listen, they did not know how, perhaps they'll listen now."

He felt…safe….

….

…

..

.


	38. Adults away

Thank you to sundance1989 and Cat girl for their reviews last chapter. You guys always make me smile with them! :)

As always, I'm really tired and will be cleverer about this later, but please go read A Ninja's Dance, by Gia's Soul. It's seriously awesome and worth it. Judith is one of my favorite OCs on this website. Period.

This one sorta counts as two chapters in one. It was meant to be two chapters, but I liked it better as one so... meh. It's 2 in the morning and I only got this up cause I couldn't sleep, so now, hopefully, g'night yall.

Edit: Oh man, so many mistakes. O.o I'm trying to fix at least some of them. I was so dizzy when I wrote this and I'm not completely better yet. Feel free to tell me of errors always. Also this chapters sort of a reminder as well that this is rated T.

* * *

Kitty sat with her head in one hand. As much as she liked school okay (and especially with as much as she was paying for it) she was having an abnormally difficult time keeping focus.

A certain little turtle kept coming to the forefront of her brain. _Michelangelo_. Also known as her little shadow. She really wasn't sure to make of the little moss colored, stuttering turtle that had taken to following her around. It wasn't like he stood behind her every second of the day or anything, but when she was home he did have a tendency to follow her from room to room. It was a unique characteristic among his brothers who all seemed to do their own thing. They tended to come and go from her presence as they pleased.

She couldn't quite say she really minded his attachment. It was actually very cute in a way, but she really didn't know what to make of it. Being watched nearly constantly was a little unnerving. For example this morning, he somehow woken up in the middle of the night, escaped his brothers grasps and relocated to the living room to presumptuously find it acceptable with the lack of extra space in her nest to lay on top of Kitty instead of next to her.

One could only imagine her surprise in the morning when she woke up with big blue eyes only inches from her face staring down at her.

"_Yay! Y-yor a-awake!" Michelangelo cheered, sitting up from his position above her, "T-time to g-g-go ma-ake muff-muffins!"_

"_Muffins?" Kitty asked, blinking away morning blurriness as she tried to adjust to the light coming in from the big window in the living room. _

"_Yeah! L-like you s-s-said!"_

_She most certainly did not say! _

_After a moment of careful deliberation of the situation however, she just let out a sigh before sitting up and letting the turtle tot roll from her stomach onto her lap instead. She rubbed each of her eyes before taking a quick look around the surrounding area. Muffins huh?_

"_Alright Mikey, lemme get ready first."_

"_K-kay!" Michelangelo exclaimed, scrambling off of the adult who was still half asleep. She longed to go back to her poker game with Issac Neutron, Elvis and the dragon. _

_A quick glance at the clock as she stood revealed that it wasn't even six yet. No one else would be up yet. It was a wonder Mikey was. As far as she could tell, he had the oddest schedule of the four. Sometimes he'd sleep in for hours and hours, but others days he'd be awake so early it was before the bird could even get the worm. _

_She really didn't pay attention much as her tired form trotted into the bathroom. All she wanted was a shower, coffee would come next. Maybe then she'd be human enough again to process making muffins with the turtle tot who may actually in fact be the definition of hyperactive when he was excited. And somehow, he always seemed excited when she taught him new things. Especially when it had to do with cooking. _

_She felt guilt start to weigh down on her shoulders though when she realized that his awe with food preparation probably stemmed from the fact that he had a serious and concerning lack of in his life._

_Deep down the adult knew she would teach him everything he asked and make him whatever he wished. It made him happy and the boy deserved a little happiness in his life._

_Kitty turned on the shower, letting it warm up until it started to steam. As she waited, she quickly stripped herself of her peace sign print pajama bottoms and her plain black tank, haphazardly tossing them into the corner of the room to be dealt with later. Just a minute or two more until the water warmed enough that she wouldn't freeze. She was just about to start slipping out of her sleep bra when-_

_A gasp took her attention. A look over her shoulder revealed Michelangelo._

_Shit._

_She had forgotten to latch the door properly. He probably stumbled in thinking that 'getting ready' meant her basic hair and makeup routine. It certainly sounded something like what she had told the little turtle as she let him watch her go through the process of hair brushing and styling. For some reason he would watch nearly unwavering in the mornings as she put on foundation and then used different powers to build the color on her face just a little. She usually let him choose her eye-shadow or lipstick color too. _

_She knew he was a kid, but it was almost worse. Despite her job, she made an effort to dress fairly modestly around the boys as she could. She didn't want them to get the wrong impression about girls and what they were meant to look like. It was just by some miracle that he didn't walk in when she was fully in the nude. Talk about uncomfortable._

_Michelangelo just stood there, staring at her with wide eyes and a pinched snout. She could only describe the look on her face as perplexity. Kitty grabbed a towel and tried to cover up just a bit more. That seemed to pull him from whatever fixation or curiosity he had because he looked up at her face now and made eye contact with the adult before asking a question. _

"_K-kitty, why ah-are you we-wear-ing a s-sl-sling-sh-shot?"_

* * *

"Miss Nora."

"Huh?" Kitty said, turning from the window to stare up at the teacher.

"Is there anything you'd like to share with the class?"

"No?"

"Nothing going on that's more important than your education?"

"No…"

"Then will you please find the derivative of x, in regards to function?"

"Well… the problem basically says to take the derivative of 5x^4 plus 2xy^2 plus y^2 plus 6… so it would be 20x^3 plus 2y^2 plus y^2.

The teacher blinked at her dumbly for a moment as the whole class looked on in awe, "You… didn't write Lagrange's Notation up on the board… or even Leibniz's notation…"

"I'm… sorry… did I do it wrong?" Kitty asked, shrinking into her desk chair. Why don't these tables provide more cover?

The teacher snatched her notebook and stared at the blank page for a moment before flipping back. He stood with a frown, possibly at her lack of note taking for the day because one page turn and he had already found her homework problems.

"Who taught you this?" He asked, shoving her weekend problems back in her face.

"A friend of mine just noticed that I was going through a lot of steps. He just watched me work then asked why I had to go through so many steps to do something simple...I don't think he's ever done calculus before," Kitty said wishing she was a bit more like the turtle she was thinking of. She'd love to have a shell to hide in that very second.

"Impossible, whoever did this has taken higher level calculus problems and simplified it into a process that one could quickly complete in their head. Who helped you do this? I would like to speak to them."

Kitty inwardly groaned. She hadn't really thought of the consequences of having a toddler mutant turtle help her with her homework. The boy had just watched her for a few minutes silently. When she asked him if there was something he needed, he asked her about the lengthiness of it before pointing out a much faster and easier way to go about the problem. At the time she was all for it. Getting through it was a breeze after the tot's intervention and she had been able to spend some time with Mikey, teaching him the wonders of homemade play-dough.

Now though, she realized there were consequences to cutting corners. How was she meant to explain that not only was it an approximately five year old boy who apparently came up with this new and strange way to go about maths, but it was also a walking, talking, turtle?

In the end, there was really only one course of action she could take to ensure she could get out of this situation while protecting both her young wards and her grade. She had to take the dive or more accurately, they had to think she fainted from the stress. If it worked out like she hoped, her professors might even cut her a break for the remainder of the semester.

Kitty let out a gasp and then a slight wheezing sound. After half-lidding her eyes for effect and then closing them, she let her head lul forward and back for a mere second before concentrating to relax all of her muscles. Her various limbs started to slide and then all at once, she fell out of her desk chair and onto the floor in a heap, controlling the fall just enough to ensure she landed on her shoulder and not her head.

She heard several loud gasps of various notes all around her. Then quick footsteps of leather shoes on the cold tiled floor and finally the _'click-clack' _sound of the number pad on the clunky school phones was a tell-tale sign her plan was working. The '_screech'_ of several chairs echoed throughout the room and even with her eyes closed she could sense the crowd building up around her and their intermittent muttering and silence as they stared on helplessly at her fallen figure.

It was just about five minutes before the emergency personnel must have shown up. She was careful not to react yet. The struggle of not twitching was real as two fingers pressed up against her neck. Kitty nearly feared she wouldn't be able to get through it without giggling, but she bit the inside of her cheek to combat the tickling sensation with pain.

After a brief inspection, she felt two hands on her upper back, one under her knees and one on her butt. She could hardly believe one of the emergency personnel was using this as an opportunity to cop a feel. There would be words later. Many words. For now though, she was supposed to be unconscious, or at least pretending to be. She'd let herself 'come to' sometime on the ride out. Yeah, they'd probably make her go to the hospital or at least some kind of clinic for a tick. Sure, her shoulder hurt like a motherfucker from the fall -praise all of her work dance lessons teaching her how to fall correctly- but she knew she'd be fine in a while. Hell, if she was lucky, any inspection of her person would run quick enough that she might even be able to get home and show Raph how to play the Kirby on the NES like she promised.

Kitty mentally cheered to herself as she officially made it out of the classroom. She was certain she deserved an Oscar for that award worthy performance.


	39. Consequential attachment

First off, I want to say thank you to everyone for bearing with me. I've been really sick and still am. My aunt thinks I'm borderline close to pneumonia. If my fever spikes she's taking me to the Emergency care. I don't really think I'm that bad. I've always gotten bad symptoms with the flu. Anyway, I did at least get this written.

On that note, I also want to say I will not be having regular updates yet. I'm still pretty sick and it took me three days and the course of several writing periods just to get this one done and if you were one of the ones to read the last chapter before I fixed it, you'll know when I'm sick I'm prone to many errors. I am both profusely apologizing for that and asking if you see any to please point them out.

I'd also like to thank dragonbreath88, Mai'shardstyle, the potatoe one and Gia's soul for your reviews as well as your kind words and support. I didn't expect my break to be that well accepted.

Lastly, I'd like to thank everyone for over seven and a half thousand views, over sixty reviews and over twenty followers. In just a month. You guys are great.

You know, this started out as just a fun chapter. I'm not really sure what happened?

* * *

Things didn't quite go as she had planned… or hoped really. Yeah, she had gotten out of class, sure her math teacher would probably leave her alone now. Also, the turtles were safe once again. Yaaaay.

However, she could have gone without being rushed to the hospital in a sirening ambulance. Did they realize how _loud_ those things were? If their patient wasn't sick before they had gotten into the crazy, screaming, speed box of death, they sure as hell were by the time they made it to the hospital. When they finally got her on land again she was so out of sorts and dizzy that there was a distinct possibility that she would _actually_ faint. Of course the doctors or EMTs or whatever they were noticed this as soon as they tried to convince her to sit up. It didn't go well. She may have vomited on her doctor's shoes. Oopse.

Kitty seriously hoped the other dancers never found out. Seriously. She'd never hear the end of it if they found out she got sick from _motion sickness_… as a fairly seasoned _pole dancer_. Sure that wasn't all of her job, she graduated to specialized fetishes and general teasing and tom foolery, but it was still a big part of it.

Well despite the fact that he told her it was okay, it seemed that the doctor was out for revenge… or just doing his job. Same difference. Either way, he put the girl through a series of tests that took five hours to get through. X-rays, MRIs, CT-scans, ultrasound, stress test and even an EEG. How dare he be so thorough in making sure she's okay. The bastard.

Seems that they couldn't find anything physically wrong with her. Strange. It was almost like… it was all staged! …. Naaah. Well, it wasn't actually clear what the doctor was thinking on this. He'd basically given her off of school for the remainder of the week which was pretty cool. Something about making sure her stress levels were alright. Then he asked if she worked and that's where everything went back to shit.

"_I work at __Dream Come True_ _downtown. I'm one of the performers."_

_The very male doctor just stared for a long moment silently with wide unblinking eyes. It was like the realization just hit him that the specimen in his examination room was infact very female. _

_Kitty could practically feel his stare go from bored indifference to sleezy indifference as he attempted to undress her with his eyes. She had never been so appreciative before that hospital gowns were one of the least sexy things ever before that moment. Resisting to squirm under his eyes she decided to stare back with an intense look of boredom. _

_The doctor coughed to clear his throat and looked back down at his clipboard, "You just seemed like such a proper young lady."_

"_Excuse me?" Kitty asked with a single brow risen with a well aimed glare in his direction. _

_He settled for coughing again, "Well I'm giving you a note for your… work as well. Just to be safe, you should take it easy."_

It was fair to say that note went straight into the trash bin. Technically she hadn't even gotten off the hospital grounds before taking a jump shot into the bins out front. She totally missed, but some outstanding citizen leaned over then picked it up and dunked it before she even got the chance to go after it.

Kitty hastily grabbed pulled a ring covered in metal danglies and other knickknacks from her coat pocket and shoved the apartment Honestly though, after an incredibly annoying detour from her normal whereabouts, she was just happy to be-

The young woman blinked once and nearly doubled back to make sure she had the correct apartment. One glance what should have been her living room had somehow been transformed into a… feather room? She didn't quite understand how it had happened, but there were white downy feathers covering everything. It was hard to tell where the couch ended and the floor began. Did a bird explode or something? She didn't even own a bird.

In the corner, tucked inconspicuously by what probably was the couch, as it was the biggest lump of feathers in the room, was some misshapen lumps of black. To get a closer inspection, she picked up the sad and lifeless lump and came to a forlorning realization. It was the pillows off her bed. She had to wonder if her room was a feathery disaster zone as well.

Deciding that this was a problem for future Kitty to deal with, she shook her head once and turned a blind eye before heading to the kitchen to get a snack. After the doctor kept her for hours with no food or drink, she was just a tad peckish. Seeing the state of the kitchen however made Kitty groan before questioning all of her life decisions.

Somehow, more than half of her cabinet had been emptied. It was a miracle nothing had broken with all of the cans and glass jars that littered the floor now. She'd have to check them carefully for hairline or spiderweb cracks later to make sure they were still good. No one wanted glass in their fruit preserves. The real question though was why there were dried tea leaves covering the floor. It was a mosaic of green and brown crumbles and dust. Even falling out of the cabinet, this shouldn't have happened. She only had the bagged kind!

Nope.

Changing course toward the bathroom, she opted for a shower instead. She still had to get the hospital smell of sterilization, cleaning products and death off of her person…

Of course.

Honestly, she wasn't even surprised anymore at this point.

Someone had gotten into her make up or it had developed some sort of consciousness and decided to claim the bathroom as its territory by covering it in a thick layer of multi coloured soot-like powder. Her makeup tins were lain about everywhere. Her mattes all seemed to be cracked and broken and her loose powders were overturned. She wondered about her liquids until she saw an array of bottles in the bathtub all left about slowly oozing out each of their own goo substances into one big muck of a river that pooled into the drain.

She shook her head and added fixing her powders as best she could and soaking the tub to her already lengthy list of things she had to do later, including collecting the feathers, re-stuffing the pillows, sewing the pillows, checking the jars and cans, vacuuming the kitchen, getting dinner ready, checking on the boys….

Speaking of the boys….

She hadn't seen them since arriving home. Normally at least one of them greeted her on her way in. Then within the first few minutes Mikey usually retold their day -in the most dramatic and action packed way possible of course. Kitty found she didn't even mind the embellishments, there was something charming about the littlest turtles love for life. Then Donatello would pull her aside and secretly whisper to her how it really happened, like they were sharing some sort of high security secret. Eventually Leo would find her to tattle any misdoings ninety percent of which she just let go. Honestly if no one was in real danger because of it, then it hardly mattered -plus Leo's look of flabbergastion every time she let things slide was always worth it. Lastly, Raph would eventually come around at least briefly to ask about food. Yet she hadn't seen a lick of the four since she had gotten home to her small apartment.

Kitty's back instantly straightened. She rushed out of the bathroom and into her own bedroom. The room had a light dusting of feathers, nothing like the living room where the supposed explosion occurred. Her bed sheets were also tousled, but none of that really mattered right now. She quickly dropped to the floor staring under the bed.

"Mikey?! Leo!"

Rushing to her feet, the young woman threw open her closet doors without restraint.

"Donnie? Raph?!"

One final glance around the room and she rushed back to the living room. Her head darted around quickly in every direction looking for any signs of life.

"Boys?!"

Her voice grew more ragged and desperate with each call.

Where could they be? What could have happened? What if they were missing? Or hurt?

Kitty rushed to the kitchen, carelessly tossing open all of the cabinet doors. She checked under the table and in both the broom closet and the mostly emptied pantry.

"¡Mis pequeños! ¿Dónde estás?"

The young woman spun in a circle, getting one last look around what was still surviving of the kitchen.

What if Splinter had come?

...What if she didn't even get to say goodbye?

* * *

Notes: Mis pequeños- My little ones.

Dónde estás- Where are you?


	40. Alien invasion

**I think I'm finally really actually getting better. My temperature is finally starting to regulate properly again. I don't get fevers very often when I'm sick so it's a very bad sign when I do get one. But it seems to be mostly gone now. Yaaaay. I'll be up to a regular posting schedule soon, maybe next week? For now though I'm gonna take it a little easy.**

**Oh oh oh! Guess who got nominated for best villain of 2014? Me? No I'm not that mean…. as far as you know…. *shifty eyes* **

**But for real it was Sara Black from Gia's Soul's story **_**A Ninja's Dance**_**. **

**TOLD you her story was (is) awesome! Now you all should go read it and geek out with me.**

**I just realized it's been forever since we've had a Mikey chapter. Also, anyone who can outright read Mikey's parts here I commend you good sir. **

**So onwards!**

* * *

"So whadda we gonna do?" Raph asked crossing his arms. He still had feathers sticking out from his shell. Donnie too, but he was in the corner with a book again.

"You know we have to go fix it," Leo said with a sigh. He looked the cleanest of the four brothers, but he still had telltale bits of tea leaves stuck between the ridges of his shell and plastron.

"No way! That'll take like-" Raph said holding up his fingers to his face and wiggled each one singularly to start counting, "-forever."

"W-we co-ul s-s-s ay a'ens ka-ka... ame and 'ooped in an' 'pshhhewww boocph!'" Mikey said holding his hands together before throwing them outwards.

There was a moment of silence where the young turtle waited to be commended for his brilliance. It didn't happen.

Mikey could feel his two older brothers judging stares on his person and slowly put his arms down, "Li...pew?"

Both of the oldest brothers turned their attention to Donnie instead. Mikey bit down on his bottom lip to keep from sighing. He could feel frustration weighing down on his shoulders. They never understood.

"Don?" Leo asked the only brother who wasn't paying attention.

"Huh?" Donnie asked looking up from a book that was distinctly more words than pictures.

Mikey held back another sigh. The young turtle missed his justice force coloring book.

"Neva mind, Don," Raph said with a huff before grumbling loud enough for Mikey to hear a distinct "He aint even care."

"We could still clean up before she gets home," Leo said with a disapproving frown at all three of his brothers.

"Or we could just accept our punishment," Donatello said with a shrug from his spot on the corner purple sheeted bed before his eyes went straight back to his book; he was clearly done with this conversation.

"I ain't gettin' in trouble!" Raph declared, stomping a foot forward. He snorted like a bull. Kinda like in the cartoons. Mikey itched to go get a red blanket. Ole!

"Then go help Leo," Donnie said with a shrug and casually turned the page. Raph looked really mad now. Mikey wondered if his biggest brother would squish Don. That would be bad. Who would fix the toaster back home when Leo breaks it again?

A fight never did get to break out though. Donnie was saved by the bell… or the door banging hard against the wall. Same difference. Kitty rushed in through the door, her eyes were read and her lips were set in a frown. The four turtles all braced themselves for what would come next.

"Oh my goodness you're all okay!" Kitty said and grabbed the closest turtle to her, Leo, and hugged his brother so tight it was a wonder his shell didn't crack. There was a watery tone to her voice that worried the youngest turtle a little.

"Uh… ya…" Raph said, oh so smartly. He rubbed the back of his neck and looked around the rooms for answers as to what was happening. His largest brother was clearly confused at the lack of yelling and lectures.

"Kitty… I don't think Leo can breathe…" Don said with his eyes glued to their collective older brother.

"Oh!" Kitty said, a high note to her surprised tone as she released his gasping brother, "I'm so sorry Leo."

Leo shook his head, dismissing her apology, but Mikey did notice him slowly shuffle away from the adult and her long snuggling arms as soon as she looked away. No faaaaaair. Mikey wanted a hug now too.

Deciding it was his turn now, he rushed over to his favorite human and hugged her tightly around the knee -it was the easiest appendage to reach.

She giggled and reached down, rubbing soothing patterns into his shell and suddenly he felt like happy goo under her ministrations. What kind of goos were happy? Play dough? Strawberry jam? Oh! Chocolate sauce!

"Da a'ens tacted!" Mikey informed Kitty as soon as she started to pull away. She was probably going to start questioning his brothers.

"What? Alien attack?" Kitty asked with a dramatic gasp.

"Yea! nd-nd-nd th-th-dey 'ade ah ess. Ame -eh-en pew pew pew! D-den Pshuuuuch! Boocph!"

"_They_ made that mess?" Kitty asked after gasping again.

"Wait, that's not-mmmphmph!" Leo started, until Raphael covered his mouth.

"Is he okay?" Kitty asked with a single brow rissen.

"Leo's naht feelin' too good afta tha attack. I'll take care o' him tho. Mikey'll explain tha rest. We'll be righ' back," Raphael said before dragging his brother through the open doorway. Michelangelo found he hardly blamed Raph, Leonardo surely would have ruined his story!

"'Eo t'ied 'owin tea s-splosivez at em! Buh dey 'ad asma b-beams an' sh-shot 'im! D-dey mah 'is b'ain aw p-p-f-unney.

"Oh no! Poor Leo," Kitty said sympathetically before kneeling down.

"Ya, buh d-den Domy 'ade puh..pi-pillow o'bot and sh-sh-sho' em!"

"Oh wow!" Kitty said with a clear look of clear impression on her face, "That must be what happened to the pillows then."

"What? You're bringing me into this now?" Don asked looking up from his book for the first time since Mikey had started the tale. He was gonna ruin it too! Darn Leo and Don. They were spoilsports.

"Shhhhh!" Mikey declared to his mean, sellout brother before continuing on, "Den Rap 'ame ta 'fend da par-men' 'ause dey wouldn' staph an' he waz protectin' its. S-s-so he b-bea' em ups."

"Wow, so Raph saved the apartment?"

"'Course I did!" Raph said strutting back into the room with a scowling Leo behind him. Serious spoilsport.

"I don't think-" Leonardo started again before Raphael shot him another glare that quickly quieted their oldest brother down.

"Well, that was very brave of you," Kitty said giving the largest of the four a warm smile before patting his shoulder encouragingly, "All of you. It's too bad that those aliens were so rude though, leaving the apartment so messy."

There was a collective silence between them as each of the brothers tried not to cave. Except Donnie. Donnie was being a snot and laughing at them from behind his book. Just see if Mikey tells any stories about him making cool pillow robots again after this!

"Well um…" Kitty started, she looked a little hesitant for some reason.

"Yes Miss Nora?" Leo asked automatically. At least he'd finally dropped the 'san.' It had taken annoyingly long and for the girl to practically beg, for him to even do that.

"I know it's the aliens' fault and what they did was very wrong, leaving everything in such disarray," Kitty started and all turtles present had to try very hard not to squirm at the displeased note in her tone. Mikey decided he really didn't like her upset voice. It made his tummy feel sick.

Thankfully it lightened up again as she finished, "Would it be too much trouble to ask for some help in cleaning it up? We can order pizza after?"

"Of course not," Leo said, the smile finally returning to his face. The sucker always had to 'make up for wrongdoings' as dad always said.

"Well I-" Raphael started, until Leo elbowed him in the gut. He gave a grunt before sighing in defeat, "Oh ah'right."

"What about you Mikey, would you be willing to help me clean up after those nasty aliens?" Kitty asked him with hopeful, wide eyes. There was only one answer.

"'C-course!" Mikey said matching her grin before marching out to go take on the evil junk monsters, feather beasts and tea-gangers. He was so ready for some celebratory pizza.

* * *

"You didn't believe a word of that did you?" Don asked with an eye ridge risen as he pushed off his spot on the bed.

"Not a one," Kitty said with a laugh, "but I now have four turtles helping to clean up the mess they made who all realize their actions were wrong. What more needs to be done?"

Donnie just shook his head, "Dad woulda taken away the tv… and my books."

He shivered at the thought.

"Do you want me to take away your books?"

"No!"

"Well you enjoy them and no one's hurt. I don't see any reason to punishment. It's just stuff."

Donnie thought this over for a minute, before shrugging his shoulders, "You know Mikey's gonna be stuck in his gibberish mode until he calms down again after you let him rile himself up with his stories."

"Yeah, but I like his stories. Don't you wish life could be as exciting as how he sees it?"

Well… _yeah_… maybe. It probably would be kinda fun if life was like Mikey's stories. Plus, they always had a happy end.


	41. Poe-tae-toe Pah-tah-to

**Thank you Guest for your review! Reviews always mean a lot!**

**Oh man! The stealthy story ballot's excellent this year! I've been making my way through some of the one's i haven't read before. (Though I'm skipping most of the ones that take place specifically in the 2k12 universe for now, I just don't find the characters as interesting personally. Doesn't mean I'll never read them nor does it mean I'll never write about them.)**

**You should go vote for _A Ninja's Dance_ by Gia's Soul for best villain come April 8th... ya know, just sayin. Sara's pretty creepy. **

**Okay, my hope is still to be back on schedule come Monday, my fever's completely gone and I would have gone to work today if they had not closed it to part time staff for the snow. I'm going to ATTEMPT to get ahead so this weekend I'll keep a normal posting schedule, but I may take a day or two again because my friend Taylor bought me tickets to go see Welcome to Nightvale live! :) Anyway that's all my news. Onward. **

* * *

"Whacha watchin?" Kitty asked, slouching on the couch near Raphael when she got home.

"Powa' Rangas."

"Power Rangers, huh never heard of it before. Is this the first episode?"

"Nuh uh." Raphael said, "They'd been marathonin' it since I woke up."

"Well it's-" Kitty looked off to the side toward the wall clock, "-five now. When you get up?"

"Dunno."

"How many episodes did you watch?"

Raphael just shrugged.

"More than ten?"

He shrugged again.

"More than twelve?"

"They're only a half an houa''"

Kitty sighed, but held back an argument. She'd never win anyway. Just because Raph was being a little nicer to her, didn't mean he was ready to listen to her yet. Maybe with time. On the other hand, maybe Splinter would come back for them and it wouldn't be an issue because he'd…. he'd take them away.

Her heart suddenly felt a bit heavy. She stood from her seat leaving the couch potato to his television. She had dinner to make. If he was still watching when she finished and refused anything else she could always head to the basement and hit the apartment's breaker. There were candles and stuff around the apartment. They'd survive.

"I w-wanna hel-lp!"

Kitty smiled as Michelangelo rushed into the kitchen, supposedly from hearing her clucking around pots and pans, "Sure, can you get me the flour?"

Mikey nodded and rushed to the corner pantry. He stood on his tippy toes, and reached up for the biggest of the blue tins with his fingertips. Kitty almost rushed over to stop the impending flour explosion. She thought she had put it on a lower shelf than that. It was by some miracle that Michelangelo managed to get a sturdy grip on the tin before it fell. Though, he had to hold it with both arms just to keep it upright.

She smiled and let the boy carry it over himself and instead moved to start chopping the various veggies she had pulled from the fridge. It was super cute to watch him firmly set the tin on the floor by her feet before shuffling away. She heard the creak of her old wooden chairs sliding across the floor. If he was a few years older, she would have told him to pick it up so it didn't scratch the tiles.

One glance at the boy though and she knew she couldn't say anything. The determined set of his jaw with squinched eyes and a pursed brow was so cute on his little pudgy moss green face as he put all his weight into pushing that chair. Deep down she knew she had to let him accomplish the task himself instead of picking it up herself and saving herself a lecture from her manager. Oh well, there goes her security deposit.

It only took him a moment to move the chair over from the little breakfast nook, that she treated like a dining room, over to the counter just left of herself. Mikey carefully picked up the flour tin first and got on his tip toes to securely set it onto the surface of the chair then pushed it back with a scuffling noise until it touched the backrest. He followed the flour tin up, pulling himself up so his knees rested on the flat of the chair as well. He pushed his legs straight with his shell in the air and Kitty prepared herself discretely to catch the little turtle, should he fall. He didn't though, after a slightly wobbly moment of gaining his balance, he was able to stand.

The little turtle turned behind him and grabbed onto the very bottom of the tin. She saw he struggled with it a bit, even with his arms locked straight, the tin still reached over his chin. He worked blindly to move it onto the counter. When the tin did make it securely onto the flat surface he smiled, looking so proud of himself that Kitty found herself smiling back. He was so cute. She reached down, gave his shoulder a quick squeeze and said a soft "Thank you Mikey," before turning back to her cutting board.

Still Michelangelo stayed and watched her work. A glance out of her peripheral vision and Kitty could see Mikey already fidgeting his fingers after only a moment of observation. She knew he would stay no matter what, but she also knew he'd prefer to be doing something. He and Donatello were the fidgeters of the four. They both always seemed to want something in their hands, even if those things were very different for each of the boys. Biggest difference however was that Donatello always seemed to find something to keep his busy hands at bay. Michelangelo on the other hand, well you had to help find it for him.

Kitty stopped what she was doing and moved over to the sink. She grabbed a dry washcloth and ran it under warm, comfortable water. After she rubbed the soap bar over it until the cloth was visibly sudsy. Kitty brought the cloth over to Michelangelo who just turned from his spot on the chair to watch her curiously. She moved to stand just in front of him and took his little palms in her own.

She knew that realistically, it was pretty amazing that the little turtle didn't even flinch at the contact like his brothers still sometimes did. It was also pretty amazing that this was normal for her as well after only a couple weeks. Green or not, at their core they were just kids.

Michelangelo just watched with no objections as she carefully scrubbed his hands with the cloth and even flipped them over without needing to be told to give Kitty better access on the other side.

"Not quite the same as washing your hands, but it'll do," She said before tossing the cloth into the kitchen's launder basket to be cleaned later. Everything he would touch would be cooked soon which would help kill any lingering germs.

Kitty pushed the big glass bowl on the counter in front of Michelangelo. Thankfully she had already made sure the counter was cleaning before starting and pushed what she had of the diced bell peppers in a pile next to the bowl with her knife. As Michelangelo just looked on, seeming to be at a loss on what to do.

"Can you put the veggies in the bowl as i cut them up?"

Mikey eyes widened a moment before a big, almost trademark grin came upon his face, "C-course I can!"


	42. Dinner routine

I want to first thank everyone for their kind words as I was sick. I'm doing much better now thankfully. So I will hopefully be back on my normal schedule. As I said before this weekend might be a little wonky because I'm going to a trip, but I'm writing like mad to try and compensate. Also a lot of people at work are getting sick as well so I could be called in to cover at the drop of a dime.

I also would like to thank Gia's Soul for her review last chapter. :) Reviews are always nice. Also thank you to the new followers and favorites!

Oh! aloggedinreader is for certain starting a new 46 story for the series, but it will be a side story of one shots that take place in the same world and I'll be writing some chapters for it too! :) So Supernatural fans keep a look out!

Onwards!

* * *

"What are you doing?"

The late teenager rose a single brow at her young ward, "Cooking dinner."

Don had stumbled into the kitchen just a few minutes after Michelangelo had exited and as usual he had an array of questions primed and ready for asking.

"Why?"

"Because around five you all seem to get hungry, I know I do."

"No I mean why do you have to cook it?" Donatello asked before standing on his toes to try and get a glance at the bubbling pots.

"Cooking helps blend the flavors and if done correctly tastes pleasant I suppose," Kitty replied with a shrug, "Of course you don't have to cook all foods."

Donatello simply nodded at the answer before he looked at the adult with a pensive expression a second time, "Why does food have taste?"

"Well…" Kitty started, racking her brain for an answer. She thought back to her classes in school and filtered through which ones might have had the answer. History and Science. Oh! "Early civilizations used taste and smell to help them gauge if a food was poisonous or not. It didn't always work at course, but I'm sure the technique at least helped. I suppose eventually people just started combining flavors because tastes can be enjoyable to the pallet."

Donatello nodded again saying nothing, but fidgited in his spot. It was obvious to the adult he still had a burning question on the tip of his tongue. If he was really done he would have simply left.

"Anything else?" Kitty asked with a hand on her hip and an encouraging smile as she waited for the young boy to speak his mind.

"How long is dinner going to be?" Don asked, glancing back to the stove. The whole apartment was aromatic with the smell of dinner cooking. A sure fire way to make anyone hungry.

"It'll be a little while yet, do you want anything to hold you over until then?" Kitty asked with a chuckle. Limiting them on food was something she never did, especially with the physiques they entered her life with. Donatello was gaining weight the slowest of the four. He just didn't have the appetite of the others, but even he was starting to get back the padding on his hands and feet finally.

"Can… Can i have a cookie?"

Kitty's smiled turned into a full out toothy grin, "Nope."

Donatello's face fell and just as he was able to shuffle away Kitty spoke again.

"You can have two, but only if you bring two to each of your brothers as well."

A smile lit up on the little green face and he started bounce on the balls of his feet as Kitty reached for the cookie jar.

"How many brothers do you have?" Kitty asked as she moved the jar into Don's reach and held it open for him to grab the portions.

"Three."

"Plus you, which makes four and you each get two cookies. So how many cookies do you need?"

Donatello blinked at her, his hand positioned just over the opening of the jar, "Ten."

Kitty was surprised as the missed answer and was just about to correct him with an explanation as to his mistake when he cut her off.

"Two for me, two for Mikey, two for Raph, two for Leo and two for you." He said with definitive nod before starting to pull out cookies one by one.

Kitty smiled at his reasoning, sincerely touched at the sentiment. After seeing the boys arms start to fill though, she took mirthful pity on the young boy and grabbed him a plate which Donatello seemed grateful to accept. She watched the retreating shelled form, two cookies in her hands. She decided to nibble on one and put the second on a small dessert plate for later -or for Raph to swipe if she decided to feign ignorance.

Kitty checked the pot and saw it would still be a good while before it was finished.

.

Kitty sat on the counter enjoying the smell as sweet, tangy smell of tomatoes and an array of sauteed vegetables wafted out from her two pots of stewing jambalaya, well 'fauxalaya' really. The larger of the pots was so mild that even small children in New Orleans would have scoffed at it. Hot peppers were replaced with extra bells and all chili powder was forgone. She even replaced the spicy sausage for a milder italian. Kitty did not want a repeat of when she had thoughtlessly tried to give them spicy mangos as a snack. The girls had always liked them so she didn't think twice about it. Apparently their boy's pallets were unused to hotter foods however. There was some screaming and a few tears and an angry accusation from Raphael that she was trying to poison them. Her soy milk had never disappeared so quickly before. Since then, she had only salted the mangos and dishes for the boys were always flavored to be considerably milder. The second pot was much smaller than the first, but it cooked a similar dish. This one however. housed all of the missing spice and none of the meat. That alone was means enough for exile from New Orleans. Her father would have been ashamed.

She sat for a little longer, just enjoying the peace that came in the waiting period of cooking time. Mikey usually helped in the active part. He liked stirring and putting things in the bowl, but he wasn't a big fan of the waiting time between when the food was being prepared. She reveled in the moments of quiet. It was only moments before Leo found his way into the kitchen. He just stood patiently in front of the much taller adult. She had the creeping feeling however like he was the one somehow looking down at her.

"Okay Leo, you can set the table," Kitty said, only smiling because of his too-serious face when she was certain the young boy couldn't see. He'd pouted last time he caught her laughing. Really it had only made her smile more at the cuteness of it. That however only made Leo sulk more. He'd actually gone and sat in the corner with his arms crossed for over an hour. It took a solemn and and serious promise to him that she wasn't laughing _at_ him.

She grabbed a fresh rag from the closet and handed it to off to Leonardo. He accepted it with a serious expression on his face before grabbing the foot stool at the bottom of the closet as well. It was so hard not to smile. Apparently cleaning the table was serious business. The little stool she kept to reach the higher cabinets looked giant in his little arms. Thankfully he was a little taller than Michelangelo so he didn't have to use a chair to reach. He set the stool in place in front of the sink and climbed on. Leo then just stared at the purplette as he silently waited.

"Alright, alright," Kitty said before taking her time as she leisurely strolled her way over to the sink.

Leo frowned at her slow moving form and Kitty held back a snort at the irony. The oldest brother was always lecturing Raph about patience and yet, Raphael was the one who apparently could enjoy a single show for hours on end while she got a look from Leonardo for taking a whole five seconds to cross the kitchen. The eldest of the brother was seriously fun to tease.

Kitty hit the tap for the boy -he still couldn't reach quite _that_ far despite this advantage over his brothers. After a moment of waiting for the heater to kick in, Leo was able to fill the cloth with pleasantly warm water. He hit the pump for a dollop of dish soap to fall on the cloth and smooshed it until the cloth became sudsy before finally wringing it out. Leo wordlessly moved from his spot at the sink to the table, carrying the little stool with him. She would have done it for him, but he insisted on doing it himself every time she's tried.

Leonardo placed the stool and then wiped of the table where he could reach before systematically moving over about two feet and repeating the process. This had become part of their routine. Eventually he had circled the table and it was no surprise when Leo seized his actions to again to stare intently toward her as he wait for the adult of the two to catch up. Kitty moved soundlessly to help complete her part of their ritual and lifted the small turtle by the sides of his shell. Leo used the extra height to reach the middle and clean it off properly as well.

Kitty asked once why he didn't get her help to start in the middle and work outward.

The young boy simply responded by saying, "What lies before us and lies behind us are small compared to what lies within us."

Kitty was 98% _certain_ he didn't understand what he said. The other 2% was still questioning if this was all some crazy hallucination, but she pushed that thought to the back of her muddled brain that was questioning why a five year old was more philosophical in their thinking than her. Kitty decided that this was just his way of saying he wanted to do it himself, at least as much as he could and with that she decided to depart from this crazy train.

After setting the boy down, he stood with his arms out waiting for the dishes, bowls in this case. As per normal, she grabbed the plastic ones -just in case- and handed them off to the boy before grabbing the cups and silverware. She left those on the table to be arranged by the young turtle however as well.

It was time to check the jambalaya.


	43. Conflicted steps

Thank you to Gia's Soul, basecannon and the potatoe one for your reviews! I'm glad you're all still enjoying this story.

A couple hours late, but hopefully it will satisfy. I was having trouble getting this chapter the way I wanted it. If it seems sloppy at all just pm me and I'll review it and fix, but I'm so tired I can't look at it anymore tonight bleh. Oh the alternate title for this is "Two steps forward, one step back" but it's kinda cliche and I wanted to keep up with my two word pattern.

Onwards!

* * *

"Why we out 'ere 'gain?" Raphael asked with a huff. _The human _had dressed them up again and dragged them out of the apartment after loading him and his brothers up with bags. It was common place for her to bring Leo or Don out on Saturdays for stupid stuff like this, but it was Wednesday for Zordon's sake!

"I've already told you, thanksgiving is tomorrow. It's time to be a little more thankful and a little more giving," The human said without even glancing his way. She really could be annoying sometimes. He was in the middle of practicing some new moves he saw the red ranger do and she storms in at nine in the morning making them all get ready for an 'outing.' More like an excuse for manual labor. Normally he would have enjoyed a trip to the surface, but after being stuck there for so long he had begun to reevaluate his opinion. Plus, it's not like he got to see any of it under all the layers she packed them under.

"But we did this just a few days ago," Leo said, "You never took us out on a Wednesday before," Leo said with a frown, readjusting the bags in his hands, "and you've never taken-"

Leo just stopped with a glance at Raphael, but what he meant was obvious. She normally doesn't ask the biggest of the turtles to go surface dwelling with her.

"That's cause it's a surprise."

Raphael decided to ignore that wink of hers. It meant trouble. This woman always seemed to be up to something when she winked, like the time she lured him into taking a bath with promises of a power ranger helmet. Yeah, she did get him one, but it was clearly not a _real_ one. When he and Mikey had a battle, his littlest brother broke the mask easily! No power ranger mask breaks like that and from the crack he could see it was clearly made from cardboard! Hey, speaking of Mikey.

"Where's Mike and Don?" Raph asked biting back a groan. It was hardly fair they didn't have to suffer through this boring.

"You didn't hear Mikey coughing and gagging everywhere? He threw up in the kitchen trash can after breakfast. Don's been making sure he stays put," Leo said with a pursed brow and a huff before deciding to add on, "You're never gonna be a ninja at this rate."

"Hey! I-" Raphael started, before he felt a hand on his shoulder holding him back. If he had just gotten two minutes he would have-

"Raph, can you give the nice man a bag?" _The woman_ asked him, pointing to another man lying on the sidewalk.

Giving out a grunt, he forced his shoulder out from her grip and wordlessly dropped yet another paper bag from his box in front of the man. He didn't even look at them. Most of them didn't.

"Happy thanksgiving," their minder said with a smile and a wave, before moving along. She simply walked on carrying her own much larger box around without complaint. She even started to hum.

It was seriously getting on his nerves.

_Raphael yawned, stretching his arms as he shuffled from the bedroom. He easily moved silently on the carpeted floors of the hall. Raphael didn't even bother to try and turn on any lights, not that he would have been able to reach without causing a commotion anyway. It didn't matter much anyway, he could have found his way with his eyes closed by now. _

_It was a surprise to the turtle though to see a distance light coming from the end of the hall, specifically the kitchen. He had gotten up to grab a water bottle anyway, no reason not to investigate while he was there. He crept near the walls, keeping low to the ground like their sensei had taught them. Making it to the archway without obstacle, he put his shell to the wall and peered into the room with a single eye, keeping as hidden as he could. _

_There was Kitty, standing at the counter with an entire loaf of bread slices laid out. They nearly covered the entirety of the grey surface. She just stood there, humming as she loaded each slice up with what looked like the turkey stuff she had given them on their fourth or fifth night in. There was some sort of brown slime being drizzled on before she plopped on a spoonful of some sort of white mush. She topped it all off with another bread slice before wrapping the whole thing in the shiny stuff she said was called al… aler…. al'min foil. After she just plopped the whole lot of them into the freezer and unloaded another loaf of bread. _

_Looking again, Raphael noticed she was even still wearing her trenchcoat. She must not have even gotten to sleep yet. Apparently the sun hadn't gotten the notice however because he could see a faint peek of orange and pink creeping in between the window curtains. _

_Stupid woman. _

_She didn't even seem to see him as he walked right past her to the cabinet, grabbing a single bottle before walking by again on his way back to bed. _

_Seriously stupid woman. _

When he was woken up again by Leo later, Don and Mikey were at the table and she was still at it. The crazy purple woman was in some kind of baggy shirt and her hair was wet when he walked into the kitchen again, but this time she was cutting up and dividing 6 apple pies that were set about the counter. She hadn't looked like she got a wink of sleep, and yet she _still_ made them leave the house at _nine_ in the morning. And not one of these stupid guys had even said thankyou.

Raphael's attention was abruptly brought back to the present when a ringing sounded from the crazy woman's pocket.

"Hello?"

Him and Leo exchanged a glance before looking back to their temporary guardian for answers.

"Oh hi Ree!"

Raphael smirked as Leo's head shot up even higher at the familiar name.

"I love you too."

He was so going to hear about this later.

"Oh… babygirl you know I can't come, Grams wouldn't be too happy if I did. Paps probably wouldn't either."

The smirk fell off of his face.

"Yeah I know it's a family dinner…. Rena, your mom's made it very clear how she feels and you know as well as I that she doesn't want me there."

He didn't even feel the box starting to rip under his clenched fists.

"Oh Rena I miss you and May too…. I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do…. I'm sorry that you two will have to go through getting lectured about table manners alone."

He saw a single tear run down her cheek and a deep ache arose in his chest.

"I love you both so much, make sure to remind your sister that ok?... Yeah I know, can you, can you tell Connie too?... I know she won't say it back."

More tears fell. He was so focused on the stray glittering liquid falling from her eyes that he didn't even notice as the box slipped out of his fingers.

"Forever and ever Rena…. I'll make it up to you Sunday okay?... Yes we can get ice cream…. Of course they'll be there too! Okay, talk to you later sweetie…."

Raphael felt paralyzed. What he _wanted_ to do, what he _thought_ he should do and what he was actually doing were all very different things. He wanted to go hug Kitty until her eyes stopped being that ugly puffy red and the stains down her cheeks faded away. He thought he should tell her that she was being stupid, only babies are supposed to cry like that. Somehow though, he found himself stuck in place as he watched Leonardo carefully put down his own box before moving in front of her with his arms stretched out. She gave a watery smile and reached down, picking up the turtle to her height and holding him tightly in her arms. Raphael did nothing, but watched.

Eventually her tears did stop. She still held on to his older brother for another long moment though before letting him down. Raphael said nothing and looked away from the pair, picking up his now battered box. Leonardo and Kitty both followed his lead as they walked on. They eventually came across a woman and a man sitting together on the side. The woman had a child in her arms that was wearing an oversized coat. She looked like she was rubbing his arms and back for warmth. He only a little bit smaller than Mikey was.

Raphael and Leo each put a bag down for them and then Raphael supplied another for the child. Both adults gave a smile, but there was something about it that made the little turtle feel… sad.

"God bless you," The woman said behind chattering teeth as her husband started to pull out several food items from one of the bags. The sandwich, the pie, an apple, a waterbottle and a little candy bar from the very bottom.

Kitty gave a matching smile and Raphael was afraid she was gonna start crying again, but she didn't. Kitty simply shed her trench coat and then the oversized hood underneath it. She shrugged back into her jacket and held the hood out to the woman.

The woman just stared at it for a moment, like it was some kind of foreign object before slowly moving her hand onto the fabric. Even as Kitty loosened her grip and even removed it completely, the woman just stared down at it, even in her own hands. It was a full minute before the woman looked up, tears running down her face leaving clean streaks free of the brown dust that powdered her face. The man just wrapped an arm around both her and the child before looking up at Kitty and mouthing something to her. She just nodded and smiled.

"Come on Leo, Raph, we've still got lots of bags left."

She walked parallel to Leo, but Raphael hung behind just a couple paces. From the back he could see the occasional shiver run down her back as wind blew.

Kitty was really stupid.


	44. Quarantined hero

**Sooooo I'm just gonna sneakily come by here and say go vote for _A Ninja's Dance for Best __Villain_ of 2014 cause that'd be pretty awesome of you and It'd make one of my favorite authors on this site happy and that'd be pretty cool too. **

**This chapter eluded me. I dunno I've just realized I don't like writing Mikey in anything, but an immaculately healthy and happy state. Seriously mind, where did these feels come from? What do you mean _plot? _Who invited such a thing into this nonsense? Begone you fowl beast! Begone!... ugh you're still here fine. I'll put up with feels. **

**We're gonna meet a new character next chapter from the show. Any guesses as to whom?**

* * *

His throat burned.

He could feel a sheen sweat covering his mossy hued skin, but he was cold. Goosebumps ran up and down his arms and legs despite the three heavy blankets that weighed down on his form. He was tucked in tightly and despite his want to shift, he was just too tired to resist his restraints.

'_Kunk! Kunk! Kunk!'_

Three sharp knocks sounded from the door. Mikey was only able to turn his head towards the sound. His blanket prison held his shoulders in place. "C-c- *cough* c-come in,"

His voice came out weak, in deep rattles that didn't quite form complete words. He sounded awful even to himself.

Mikey had been stuck alone for days now. The only noise he had heard in days was the noise he generated. Besides that in his few hours of wakefulness each day… it was kinda lonely.

"I'm coming in," The already light voice was muffled from behind the wooden door.

He could hear the click of the door lock slipping out of place. It wasn't so much to keep him in per say, he could barely move as it was, it was more to keep his brothers out. Kitty was afraid of them getting sick from him and he was basically isolated in the master bedroom. The last time he had seen any of his brothers was just short of a week ago when he had first started feeling icky. Don had read him a book until he fell asleep while Kitty took their older brothers with her to help her with her handouts.

"How you doin' bud?" Kitty asked, moving to sit on the corner of the bed after setting a tray on his table. She'd take the old ones as she left. He could hear the dishwasher run each night after she collected his dishes from the day. Then he'd hear the shower run for a few minutes from the guest bathroom. Her private bathroom had been reserved specifically for him over the duration of his illness.

Mikey was about to answer, but a coughing fit overtook him. She quickly moved to his side and patted the back of his shell. Coughing hurt the worst of all.

"Shhh, it's okay," Kitty said, wrapping her arms around his shoulders.

He found himself snuggling into her hold not wanting to let go. She was so warm. It almost felt like tiny little bugs with frozen breath were biting at his skin. She released on arm and he whined in protest without thought. Instead of replacing her grip, she moved one hand to start rubbing his scalp. It made his head hurt worse at first and whimpers fell from his mouth, but she just continued with whispered words of encouragement and humming that somehow managed to pull some of his focus away from the pain.

When her song was done though, he was surprised to find his head hurt less. He just hugged her tighter with this realization. She just sat with him for a while and Mikey managed to curl himself up on her lap. He vision was just on the edge of being awake and dreaming when she shifted underneath him.

"Do you think you can eat something?" Kitty asked, biting her bottom lip. She seemed worried. She did that a lot, but it was only directed at him when they first met. Usually it was Raph who made her do that or that mean lady on the phone. He didn't like it when she did that.

Mikey nodded, despite being doubtful. He'd probably throw up again, but he would try to make sure it was in the bathroom after she left so she wouldn't make that face again. She was almost as bad as Leo.

He watched, holding back a gag at the smell of food as she grabbed the bowl of soup she brought in and held it close to his face. He smelt something, it was hard to really tell what it was behind the stuffiness of his nose. Mikey didn't know what was in the soup, but it was already making his stomach bunch and pull in knots and loops and other shapes he couldn't describe. To be fair though, everything he ate over the past few days made him feel similarly so it was hardly a surprise.

She even went through the trouble of spoon feeding him. He wasn't sure if it made him happy or embarrassed though. Surely Raphael would tease him later if he ever found out. He was able to push through eating nearly a third of the bowl before he had to push it away. He could practically feel the food trying to come up from his throat. He fought it down, but even that was making the previously sheen layer of sweat actually begin to build up enough to roll down his face in small drops.

Kitty must have noticed it because he could feel her patting his face and neck down with a dry tissue that was probably from the box on the nightstand. He didn't know for sure he hadn't quite paid attention.

"I brought you a surprise," Kitty said with a smile down at him. The corners of her eyes turned down and instead of being wide and bright like they normally were when she smiled they were thinned out and they almost looked a little more blurry than usual, but it was probably his sickness fooling him.

From under the tray she pulled a… book? It didn't really look like the books he'd seen before. Maybe it was a magazine? Those were always lying about. Him and his brothers found lots of them, but they were usually covered with cars or houses or pictures of people. When they were really young he could remember his dad ripping them and balling the pages into tight balls. He'd swipe a rock against a knife and sure enough they'd be warm for the night. However, this didn't look like any magazine he'd ever seen before.

"It's a comic book. It tells a story through pictures and words," Kitty said opening the supposed comic book and revealing brightly colored pages. "This is Zippy lad, he's part of the Justice Force. He's my favorite. My dad was saved by the Justice Force once when he came to the US. In fact, it's how he met my mom, but that's a story for another day."

"W-wai *cough* buh, ony Don an' *cough* 'eo *cough* 'an 'ead."

It took her a moment to respond. He knew he was having more trouble than even normal forming words around whatever decided to park itself in his throat.

"I know, I'm sorry Mikey. It was one of the only things I could think of. I know comics have a lot of pictures so you can sorta get the story from that…. How about this? I have to go to work tonight, but tomorrow it'll be just me and you okay? We'll read through the whole stack of Justice Force comics I can find if you're up for it okay?"

Mikey couldn't hold back the frown that came to his face, but he nodded anyway. It really sucked being stuck all alone, but he knew she had stuff she had to do. Adults were like that. Their dad would go by himself to talk to some Yoshi person everyday too.

She stood and Mikey had to force himself not to grab on to her shirt. He wanted to cry and while until she held him close again. He wanted her to hum again and rock him to sleep and stay so he'd have someone to hold onto so he'd know even in his dreams that he wasn't alone. He didn't though. Michelangelo swallowed back his protests and just clutched onto the blankets covering him as tightly as his little fingers could grip.

Kitty leaned down and kissed his forehead, "I'll see you soon little hero."

That just made him want to cry more though. He pulled the blanket over his face so she couldn't see, pretending that he was just going to sleep. As soon as he heard the click of the door though he pushed the blanket back and rushed into the bathroom as quickly and quietly as his tiny tot legs would allow.

The chicken soup just did not taste the same coming up as it did going down.

* * *

**This is more of a pet peeve than anything, but is anyone else super weirded out by how they made Hun in 2k12 verse? Like if he starts discoing I swear, I'm out. Its especially weird though because the comics that are supposedly paralleling through the same universe and ect ect Hun's supposed to be Casey's dad right... and an abusive ass... okay I see why they didn't go down that route, but did he really have to be so goofy? The pure goofiness they go with for humor on this show bothers me. Its like they think kids are stupid. Sorry miniature rant.**


	45. Lacking insight

**Thank you to RunFromTheMedic for your review!**

**Sooooo I warned ya'll about the weekend being tough. I didn't get 5 minutes to myself. Oh well I had a lot of fun though even if I ended up exhausted after. **

**This is still kinda sad, I'm plannin on probably writing a little fluffy chapter in between maybe explaining how the mess happened a few chapters back.**

**Now to sleep. Lots of sleep.**

* * *

"How's Mikey?"

"Is he gonna be okay?!"

"What are we gonna do?"

Kitty was bombarded with questions from her remaining three wards as she emerged from the guest bathroom still steaming, but dressed.

"One at a time, please you three," Kitty said with a sigh before kneeling down to their level. She knew that they were just worried though, if it were Connie….

All went silent as the three little brothers glanced between themselves wordlessly conversing among themselves as they seemed to be deciding what needed to be asked first.

"What's going to happen to our little brother?" Leonardo finally asked. He stood at the very right of the three with Raphael in the middle and Donatello to his left. The picture was a little strange without Michelangelo hanging buffering himself between Leo and Raph or prodding Donnie for information.

"I think he has the flu, or something similar to it," Kitty said wishing to reach out to each of the worried boys, but she held back. They needed each other right now much more than they needed her. No matter how much she's trying to help them, she was still the one keeping them from their littlest brother.

Donatello stepped forward now and Kitty bit her lip knowing what was coming.

"What _type_ of flu is it though? There are so many different kinds. What are we going to do if it's not…. not..."

He silenced and stared down from her eyes to her chin. she felt something running down it. She wiped a hand acrossed the area to see it turn red. She stared dumbly down at her hand at first. It was blood. Her blood. A quick glance into the bathroom mirror behind her showed that she had bitten so hard onto her bottom lip that she had broken the skin beneath both of her canines and a trail of blood seeped from each. She hadn't even noticed.

Her mind had been too busy reeling over every question that Donatello was sure to ask and that she couldn't answer. What's wrong with Mikey? Is he going to be okay? What can we do? What can he do? What is happening to him? Is this normal? Is he going to be okay? Can he eat? Should he sleep? Should we keep him warm or cool? Is it something he ate? Does he need medicine? Is he going to be okay? Is he going to be okay?! Is he going to be okay?! Is he?

She didn't know.

The consequences of taking care of someone…. someones that she didn't fully understand. If it were the girls she would have been able to take their temperature and know for sure what it was supposed to be. She could only guess based off of his brothers. If it were the girls she'd know to keep them warm, prescribe some soup and lots of water. Michelangelo had hardly eaten anything in a week though which was highly unusual for the littlest turtle. If it were the girls she could take them to a doctor if things had gotten this bad, but he wasn't the girls. He wasn't human. There was no doctor in the country she could necessarily _trust_, much less understand how to help.

He was her responsibility. All of them were. They became so when she let them into her home. She had to do something to help.

But how?

What could she do? Break into a hospital and run tests? She wouldn't even know where to start! Kitty was many things, an exotic dancer, an actor, a wannabe engineer, but a doctor was not one of them. She wouldn't know what to test for or even how. Would those tests even work with his blood?

She didn't know.

There were too many things she didn't know.

Suddenly Kitty felt needles spring to life across her thigh.

"Hey!" Raphael shouted. "Earth to Kitty! What's wrong with you?"

"Huh?" She asked intelligently as she came out of her own thoughts and back to the environment in front of her. Leo and Donatello were giving her their worried glances. Raphael started hitting her thigh again.

"You shouldn't hurt yourself," He started and smacked her leg again, "Go clean yourself up!"

Kitty nodded, noticing now that several drops of blood had slipped from her chin onto the floorboards. Another quick glance in the mirror revealed the gruesome amount of blood that was pouring from her bottom lip and pooling down her neck. It looked much worse than it really was.

Raphael seemed to have noticed her drifting again and took it upon himself to start pushing against her hip in an attempt to shove her into the bathroom. Maybe because he was getting fed up with her, probably so she could get cleaned up once again though. She and Raph still had a complicated relationship.

Kitty quickly stripped off her stained night shirt once the door was shut, staying in just the sports bra she slept in. It was black so nothing was showing up in the material. She quickly washed the crimson from her copper skin. With all of the blood washed away she could see that the cuts to her skin were pretty minor. They were already beginning to close. She held a small towel to the seeping wounds and waited for them to stop draining. She probably nicked a minor vein for the amount of blood that leaked from the little cuts. If the situation weren't so serious she would have smiled it off and joked to the boys about becoming a vampire. But it was serious and there was no room for jokes right now, not from her.

Once the blood slowed to a minimal amount she covered the wounds with the smallest band aids she could scavenge out of the bathroom's cupboard. Opening the door to face the dreaded sounds of worried and heartbroken children she opened the door only to have three figures fall on top of one another.

"Oomph!"

"Oh!"

"Owww."

"Are you alright?" Kitty hurriedly asked quickly squatting down and looking over the fallen forms. They were slowly getting themselves back up.

"We're okay," Donatello said after getting a good look over at each of his brothers as well. Though if anyone would have been hurt it would have been him. Somehow he had ended up at the bottom of the turtle pile, "But what about you?"

Kitty's back straightened with widened eyes at the simple question. She was taken aback by his concern, or curiosity. Whichever it was she was surprised even an ounce of it was directed her way with everything that has happened. She touched her fingertips over one of the band aids, "I'm fine. I don't even feel it."

Donatello nodded before his eyes sharpened from their wide worry to a look that spoke only of intent. She knew deep down he wasn't done with his questions, "Is Mikey going to be okay?"

"I don't know," Kitty said after turning her gaze to the floor. She couldn't look at their reactions. She could hear their worried gasps and then sniffles. Kitty finally forced herself to look up. Leo's eyes were watery, Raph was grinding his teeth and Donatello already had a few spare tears falling down his cheeks. Something inside her was ripping apart at the sight of them. The boys were champs, they handled getting separated from their father in the middle of new york like true survivors. It was…. hard to see them broken apart like this, "I'm going to do everything I can to fix this."

Three pairs of wide eyes looked up to her.

Leo's suddenly narrowed and his snout scrunched up, a sign he was thinking hard about something, "What are you gonna do?"

Kitty looked down into Leo's eyes and had to mentally remind herself to not bite down on her lip again, "I'm gonna go find the one person in this city that I trust enough to help."

"You can't bring anyone here!" Leonardo immediately protested. With the intensity, he had almost sounded like Raphael.

Kitty put one hand to his little cheek and smiled the first real smile she was able to manage all day, "You have to trust me on this little lion heart."

Leo's chest puffed out and his mouth like he was going to say something more, but then all at once he deflated, his eyelids drooping down in his concern as he looked to the bedroom door, "Save my little brother."

* * *

The bell rang overhead as Kitty walked into the little Brooklynn shop. The walls were covered in signs like 'Cash for gold!' and 'Invest in Silver today!' There were signs for all sorts of things though, even investing money in pork bellies, which somehow didn't seem like a sound place to put one's money.

"Hello, how can I help you- Kitty!"

Kitty smiled as she laid eyes on her old friend, "Hey Goalie, I need a favor."


	46. All talk

**This story's hit over 10000 views! Awesome!**

**So we've met Casey's dad! Yaaay. He's a commodities dealer in the show, but we really don't know much about him. There's a lot of cannon story lines that have Hun as Casey's dad so I thought I'd trek down that route a little. Not really with Arnold Jones Sr. being Hun, but more like him once being a gang member himself, in fact being the founder of a gang... a specific one. I know things are a little dark right now. We'll be back to cute soon, in a few chapters I promise. There's just this stupid little homicidal plot bunny in my head that I can't seem to get rid of.**

**Edit: I beefed up this chapter. I tried to write something straight forward and mysterious, but it just really didn't fit in well with the rest of the story. Oh well. So there's some added content and more description now. **

* * *

"Don't call me that. You know I don't go by that anymore Leonora. I've been clean for years. Longer than you've known me," The tall, dark haired man said with a gruff undertone that gave away his frustration. His dark eyes narrowed as he sent a glare in her direction.

"Yeah and you know damn well I gave up that name too after what happened," Kitty asked crossing her arms with a frown before moving closer to stare directly into his eyes. This was not going how she pictured it. Goalie or Jones or whatever he wanted to be called now was always reliable, but he'd been out of contact for over a year. She'd heard he had opened some sort of shop, but she'd never imagined he'd be dealing….commodities. Seriously? "Alright Mr. Salesman-of-the-year. I need help, but I need help from the old you. All on the hush."

"I don't do that kinda stuff anymore Kit," Arnold said with a deep throaty huff that had hints of a growl before turning away from her, "I have a family now! I'm a businessman. I'm not some thug anymore."

"You can't tell me you can't reach any of your old contacts Goalie. I need medicine. I picked up some kids and one of them's sick."

"So take them to a damn hospital!" Jones said throwing an arm out dramatically. He was a big muscular guy. People usually listened when he told them to do something. Something about the fact that a single hit from him would probably leave a permanent mark, but Kitty knew better. She knew he'd never hit her.

"I can't! If I could have I would have! Do you think I would have come here? I wouldn't be here if I had another option Goal-"

The young woman felt a chill running down her back as he set his harsh glare on her form once again. Okay never say never...

"-Arnold. I don't have anywhere else to do. If I did I wouldn't be here…."

"I've got a wife Kit and a kid. I can't be gettin' involved in all of this stuff again," Arnold Jones said with a sigh.

Kitty held back a whimper at the answer. If she had another option she would have taken it. The boys were constantly pressuring her to be able to see their brother, but they couldn't. The risk of them getting sick as well was way too high. She straightened her shoulders and forced a smile through it, "How's Jr. doing anyway?"

Arnold slumped back to sit on the cashiers counter with a sigh and Kitty moved to the door switching the storefront to 'Closed.' Neither of the room's residents spoke for a while. Kitty just stared at the various signs and distracted herself by debating in her head if cotton was as good of an investment as the sign implied.

"Casey's good," Arnold said after a long moment, "He's struggling a little with reading in school, but it's still early."

Kitty just nodded and smiled, "The boys would probably be in kindergarten this year. Except for Donnie."

"Is he the oldest of this batch of ragamuffins ya keep somehow finding?"

"Hardly," Kitty said. She couldn't stop her giggle at the thought of Leo being bumped out of his position by their resident genius. She wasn't sure if the little mimic would know what to do with himself if he couldn't mother hen his brothers. Even Arnold gave a half hearted smile at her expression, "He's just really smart, like already helping me with my homework smart."

"Maybe he could help Case' some time. Hell, the smarts might even rub off on him. Casey's a bright kid, but school's just not his thing. Wasn't mine either,"

"I bet Don would like teaching," Kitty said with a slightly sadder smile at the thought. She could picture it now. The little turtle would probably somehow put on thick black glasses and a tie for no real reason and then abuse the use of a yardstick by banging it on whatever desk or table may be near by. She's seen too much of the boys' imaginary play to believe something like that would be anything less than dramatic.

"Are the parents on the run?" Arnold asked suddenly, his face shifting back into its solemn expression.

"What? No! Wait...well…" Kitty said, twiddling her fingers as she thought over the idea -a bad habit she's picked up from Don. Was Splinter on the run? Well sort of, he was a mutant after all, but were there other reasons? Would the boys know? Were there people actively after him? "I don't… think so?"

"So why do you have the kids Kit? They wouldn't just be with you for no reason. Are the kids on the run then?"

"No of course not!" Kitty said with a huff, throwing her arms up in the air from pure exasperation before blowing some hair out of her face that got in the way from the jerky movement, "Look they're just kids trying to find their dad. I found 'em at the park, por el amor de dios!"

"Well then why do you have them?" Arnold asked, his voice got louder with each word as he moved slowly from the counter to stand right in front of her face in some half assed position of dominance, "Kit, I can't have this coming back at me. I need to know everything."

"They're just different okay?! They can't go to school or to doctors or anything like that. I can't just take them to the police station or an orphanage. They're different and that's all I can tell you."

Arnold just stared at her for a good minute.

"Do you have like, fucking aliens or something?"

"What no!" Kitty exclaimed. She was caught between wanting to laugh and pull her hair out at the question, "and I mean that to both kinds. They were born in the US not out of country or out of world."

"Would meds even work on aliens?"

"God damnit Goalie they're not aliens okay? I need vaccinations, 4 sets. Everything that covers children from birth to five just to be safe. Pronto on flu vaccines. I could also use some antibiotics, the strong stuff if you can get your hands on it."

"That serious huh?" Arnold asked putting a hand on his hip as the conversation moved back into the realm of seriousness.

"He's constantly sleeping and barely eating. His temperature's high, but it's hard to tell how bad. He's the youngest of four and his brothers are counting on me. Arnold, please… if it was Casey you know I'd do everything and anything I could to help you in a second."

Arnold let out a long sigh, rubbing the back of his head, "Alright Kit I fold. After all, what's a princess without a dragon to protect her from all the evils of this world, like princes?"

Kitty snorted at the old codeword for drunks at the club, "You know everyone misses you there. It's been ages."

"How's everybody doin'?" Arnold said with a half smile, "Any of the regulars givin' you trouble? Do I need to visit some time with my bat?"

"Regulars give trouble? Hardly. All of them remember when you were the bouncer. Drunk or not most of them aren't stupid," Kitty said with a grin putting both her hands on her hips. It was a nice change of conversation to be finally getting through to him.

"Right, well if anyone gives you trouble you know you can call any time doll."

"Doll? Please if Sugar were here she'd punch you for that one,"

"Not if I caught it," Arnold said with his own grin, "How is Sugar doin'?

"She's alright. Misses you, but she'd never say it. How's your wife?" Kitty asked, she had to shift the small talk away from her co-worker. No way was bringing up that old mess going to help her case.

Arnold gave a sincere smile at that. She could see his teeth and all, "She's good. Real good. We're gonna go visit her parent's house soon."

"I'm glad you're finally gettin' the whole family thing Goalie." Kitty said before moving to give him a hug around the middle, "But I need your help if i'm ever gonna help this family. They say their father's still out there."

"What do you think?" The tall man asked with a brow raised. Kitty knew it wasn't easy to find anyone in this city. She could see the doubt written all over his features.

"I think….I think if he's out there they'll find each other."

Arnold gave her shoulder a quick squeeze before signing again. He was doing that a lot this conversation. She knew deep down it really wasn't fair to ask, but she didn't have many options. "I can get you the flu vacs and the lighter antibiotics in just a couple days. All the other stuff will be a little harder. At least a week, maybe two."

"Two weeks?! He could die by then!" Kitty said pushing away from the once friendly embrace.

"It's been years since I've been in the game kit. Mosta the dragons that were around when I was there are dead, in jail or like me and also out. There's only so much I can do. I'm not a power player anymore Kit. The new boss has started to take things to whole new levels." Arnold explained. Even he looked a little frustrated at the situation. It must be hard, a gang that once practically worshiped him and now he's barely scraping at the bottom of the barrel for some measly over the counter meds and vaccines.

"Okay," Kitty said with her own sigh, "Just get me what you can as fast as you can. Alright?"

"Faster than a dragon flies," He said with a wink.

* * *

**Note: por el amor de dios- for god's sake.**


	47. Vaccination confrontation

**I was turned into a zombie. No, really. Okay, it went down like this: Everything was average and normal just a nobody living my life, school home school home, avoiding the sun like a vampire. Suddenly though, shit goes down. Story is some guy ate a bad burger and before you know it, Zombies. Wait, no, that's the backstory of Zombieland. My bad. I have so much trouble telling the difference between real life and what's on tv sometimes.**

**No, but really, I've been exhausted. So ya'll know how I caught pneumonia if you read these at all, and just when I was starting to feel better I was called in on every single one of my days off and I only did not accept one of them because I was going to see the WtNV live with one of my best gals in cosplay that took two and a half hours to put on and later took an hour to take off, plus a two hour drive before I could have feasibly gotten back. There was no way. Even that was no day at the spa. Fun or not the whole trip was exhausting, so much so I actually got basically yelled at by my friends for zoning out. I don't blame them though they didn't understand my got called in all week again and Easter was last weekend in which I worked, cleaned and then worked the next day. This was all with the genetic makeup of an introvert. I can't help it I need my alone time sometimes. So after nearly a month my first real day off was ding ding ding, yesterday.**

* * *

"Are you sure these are the real deal?" Kitty asked looking at the vials in the box with a frown before carefully shaking them once for good measure. They were sealed and labeled and even the box was sealed when he handed it to her, but it never hurt to make sure, especially in this city.

"I'm sure Kit. I was there on the heist. The place was an easy and went over pretty smoothly, in and out. They prolly won't even notice it's missin'." Arnold said with a carefully blank expression. She wasn't sure what was scarier, him yelling at her or this. His only give away was his locked jaw, "You'll get the other stuff soon."

Kitty gave him the best smile she could muster through her worrying. Her hands bobbed up and down with the box in her hand as she thought of what to say, "Thanks Goalie… This really means a lot.

He rolled his eyes at her, "Yeah, yeah _Leonora_ go take care of those damn kids."

Kitty snorted, sprinting across the short storeroom and leapt forward, tackle hugging the giant of a man. Not that it knocked him over with his slightly ridiculous muscle strength and this was coming for a girl who swung her weight around on a bar like it was easy. He really did always come through for her. In truth she'd never be able to repay him for everything he's done.

* * *

Things were peaceful somewhere, once upon a time. There were babies being born, couples having their first kiss. People at spa days, reading a good book or just having a relaxing day at the park. There were sunsets and sunrises in that very moment somewhere far away. However, far away was not here and neither was peace. Somehow sticking children with needles, even super trooper ninja in training children, did not go over well with said children.

"You expect us ta do wha' now?" Raphael asked with his brow scrunched up, "Ya gonna stick us with a needle and we're sa-posed ta jus' stay still?"

Leo narrowed his eyes, looking carefully at the syringes, "Why do you have to stick us with those for us to go see Mikey?"

"What's in them?" Donatello asked with his head tilted to the side.

"Well technically it has the flu virus in it," Kitty said trying to think of the best way to explain this to little kids. That wasn't it though.

"What! You're trying to get us sick?" Donatello spurted out his eyes wide and a distinct look of betrayal took over his features. Leonardo and Raphael immediately moved into sloppy defensive positions. It might have been a little more menacing if either of them were tall enough to even come up to her hip. With their stances it looked like she could probably push them over with one finger. It looked like the large shells on their back were throwing off their balance. It was a little surprising given all of the training all of them seem to boast about, a little less given their physique. If she tried their stances her balance would probably be rock solid. Either their sensei must have forgotten to compensate for that when beginning their training or they weren't quite as trained as Raphael and Leonardo had led her to believe and they were just trying to mimic the pose.

"What? No! I mean, yes, but no!" Kitty started and then groaned. This was not going well, "The cells are already dead so your bodies can learn how to fight off similar cells."

"That hardly seems like a fair fight," Leo quipped in after shifting from his fighting stance into a more thoughtful pose. Kitty held back a groan.

"Leo, busada does not apply to germs."

"Bushido," Leonardo corrected, though it hardly went noticed when Donatello started up.

"I thought you said this was a virus? You said they were dead, they're not still developing are they?" Don asked while inspecting one of the vials of flu vaccinations. How'd he even get that from her? The box was still in her hand! God help the soul that taught their resident genius to be a true ninja. She'd have to put a bell on him or something. Would that even work? Do bells work on ninjas?

"No Don, not that kind of germ," Kitty said with a groan, "Think of it as viruses are types of germs, bacteria too. There are all sorts of germs some good, some bad. However, these one's are dead so they can't hurt you. The worst that'll happen is you'll feel sick for maybe a day."

"Why would we get sick if they're dead?" Leonardo asked looking skeptically between the vial that Donatello was holding at the herself, aka the adult that was telling him the contents of said vial would be forced into his body via pressure through a needle.

"Symptoms are actually caused by one's own body to fight off infection rather than the illness itself," Donnie said without even looking up.

"How do we know you aint jus' tryin' to get us all sick?" Raphael demanded, taking what he probably thought was a threatening step forward. They were seriously all so cute. Even Raphael. Would pinching his cheeks be out of line in this situation?

Kitty took a deep breath, she was already at her wits end with this conversation. Nearly all kids were bad with shots, but the fact that they had actual solid reasons to doubt the integrity of the situation made it that much harder. What do people even do with kids that are too smart to be bribed with icecream?

"I know you don't always trust me, but I wouldn't have brought you here just to poison you."

"You always say that," Raphael grumbled behind crossed arms.

"That's because it's true," Kitty said with a grin. She held back a chuckle at his pouty face. In all honesty she wasn't sure what to do to make Raphael trust her. Sure, they were getting along a little better recently, but it was still pretty clear he had his suspicions and Leonardo given his immediate reaction was still a little suspicious as well. She had actually believed that Leo trusted her alright. So much for that thought process. At least while Donatello had a clear aversion to the situation, he didn't seem like he was going to try and kung fu battle his way out of the apartment.

"Vaccination. Vaccination is the administration of antigenic material, aka a vaccine, to stimulate an individual's immune system to develop an adaptive immunity to a pathogen, aka a virus," Donatello suddenly recited from one of the medical books she had gotten him from a second hand store after Michelangelo had first gotten sick. He had been curious about how illnesses worked and of course had an endless array of questions. It had just been easier to get him a book than relearn high school biology. At the time everyone had thought it was just a harmless cold at the time so there hadn't been much cause for alarm initially.

"Do you understand what that means or are you just reciting it?" Kitty asked as noncommittal as she could manage. Don was the genius child, but somethings still go over his head in the occasional times that he doesn't previously know the meaning behind certain words and the like. It was always best though to check in a way that wouldn't offend his intelligence.

"It could make us feel sick…. because our bodies are working against it right?" Donatello asked. His eyes crossed just slightly as the gears turned behind them.

"So is it safe?" Leo asked, his shell turned to the adult. She herself was obviously no longer a contributor in this part of the conversation. Kitty would have been offended if the situation weren't so serious.

"Well, it seems vaccinations are at least. I don't know how we'll react to them though, if the illness Mikey caught spreads between humans then it's plausible that we'll react to these the same way."

"So we just 'ave to let her poke us with 'em things?" Raphael asked grumbling.

"If we don't want to end up like Mikey," Donatello said with a frown before his eyes disconnected from his brothers to stare back down at the vial in his hands.

* * *

**Note: This takes place in 1993 at the moment, before the controversy about vaccinations and autism started. Though, i will say that the 'scientific article' that founded this data was proven to be complete bullshit and a huge mistake by a doctor who was trying to make money by faking data. He produced an article that has been proven to be tampered data many times since in the plot to come out with his own 'safe' version of vaccinations so everyone would only buy from him. He didn't count on so many people denouncing vaccinations all together. He has even openly fessed up to this plot.**


	48. In Sickness

Raphael was mad.

The stupid human lady promised that she was trying to make them better. Kitty had come home after work, put her stuff down and immediately got on the phone for three hours before talking to any of them. Raphael wasn't pleased with the situation. In the time that they had been staying in the small apartment, Kitty usually started breakfast so it would be ready around five and he was hungry. Then again, he hadn't been pleased with her recently anyway. She wanted to use needles to inject something-or-rather into their blood.

His blood was fine the way it was. It was staying inside of him for the most part and that was what really mattered right?

It had had been three nights since she first brought up the shots. None of them had taken it well. Their dad had been pretty clear about keeping away from needles when they scavenged. It was at the top of their usual recited list of "Things To NOT Touch" that their dad had made them repeat before every search.

He felt every alarm bell ingrained in his head go off when she said she wanted to prick him to put stuff in his blood. There was nothing "okay" about the situation, especially since she was basically holding their littlest brother hostage if they didn't comply. Seriously, how dare she?

It was Donnie at the time that had kept him from giving her a piece of his mind. He explained how the stuff was supposed to help him them. To be honest, he didn't really get it, but he still trusted his brother a whole lot more than he trusted the human lady.

Sure, she was nice to them, but what if she was trying to get them to put their guards down? Like in that story book their dad read to them about kids going to a house made of candy? It turned out it was owned by a witch who ate them!

He refused to let anything even remotely like that happen to his brothers. So after that, he decided to keep a close eye on her. After the bombshell had been dropped, Kitty had relinquished the box of vials to his second youngest brother. Donnie had found every medical related text in the apartment and then sent Kitty out for more from the Library as he researched the supposed "medication" before him.

Raph was only slightly mollified by the fact that she hadn't had a single complaint about retrieving any texts that Donatello asked for, nor the growing tower that was taking up increasing space in her living room. Leo had basically gone back to a pacified attitude after Donatello hadn't found anything wrong in the the first day, so it had been up to him to make sure the situation was truly kosher.

He noticed that since bringing up the supposed "medicine" she had spent a lot of hours on the phone. She also tended to be out more as well as she poured over her own stack of books nearly as much as Donnie.

She also hadn't slept much. He had been keeping track. Raphael decided with this new strange behavior of hers, it would be best to sleep during hours that she was gone so he could be awake to keep an eye on her and guard his brothers.

Though, he still stayed away from Mikey.

Only because of Donatello's warning.

Not hers.

Now it was nearly 6 in the morning. Breakfast still hadn't been started and she was still on the phone. She was using a lot of words he didn't really understand and that was concerning on its own. He stopped bothering to try and hide his presence as he listened in on the conversation. It was too hard to hear what she was saying that way. It was much easier to stomp straight into the room and make himself known. If she started getting defensive or trying to keep him hearing the conversation, then he'd know something was wrong.

She didn't. She just aimed a smile his way that didn't quite reach dark, puffy eyes. He noticed she looked paler than usual. She wiggled her fingers slightly in his general direction, before continuing the conversation in the same tone and relaxed state as she was before.

"Are you certain there would be no problems?"

She paused, her eyes glanced toward the phone as the voice got a little louder. He couldn't necessarily make out what they were saying, but the tone didn't sound very happy.

"I know, I know I keep calling. I know. I'm sorry, I just really need to make sure…."

She went quiet as the voice on the other side got louder again.

"Yes, I'm sorry, I do realize that it is six oh eight in the morning. Yes, I know…. Well you're there aren't you? I'm sorry that you pulled an all night shift, but… Okay…. Okay. Are you completely _certain_? Yes… Yes. Alright. Yes, I promise I won't call back this time. Yes, goodnight."

She finally placed the phone down on the receiver and Raph thought her smile looked a little more natural. Something about her seemed a little less tense. She still looked tired. Maybe she had finally given in and would just fall asleep on the counter.

"Good morning Raphael~," she said in a sing-song like voice.

He snorted in reply. He didn't trust that voice.

She didn't seem to mind though. Kitty just gave him a smile and moved to the counter pulling out various supplies.

"How do blueberry muffins sound this morning?" She asked while measuring out the flour.

He didn't respond, but she seemed to take his silence as affirmation because she started putting the dry ingredients together in a bowl.

"Would you mind getting your brothers?" She asked while she began pouring water in the powdery bowl.

He watched for a moment longer as what looked like dust turned into a sludge like concoction with the addition of water. As the mixture started to settle, he lost interest and decided to go get his brothers.

Not because she asked though.

He had to bite his tongue when he saw her heading for the bedroom. He knew she was just checking on him as she often did, but it still turned his stomach that she got to go and see him when he couldn't.

* * *

Leonardo had always liked the color blue. His brothers thought it was weird, preferring bright warm colors like orange or red. It wasn't surprising really. When you live in a dreary, gray scale sewer even just a little bit of color could make a big difference. Unlike his brothers however, who chose their favorite colors from an arbitrary liking of them, there was an actual reason he liked the color blue.

It reminded him of the first time he went to the surface with Master Splinter. That day he learned about the sky and how big the world really was. He had learned about so many things since then. There were deserts, islands, mountains, jungles, cities, far off countries, there were even some places that were covered with snow all of the time! He learned that not everyone could talk the way he could. A lot of people had different words for the same things. He wanted to see it. All of it. He would some day. When he was bigger. One day he would go and find out what was really out there.

For now though, he was already having an adventure. It wasn't all good. Leo was constantly worried about his youngest brother's health and his father was still missing, but even though it was hard to admit, there were some parts he liked too.

He liked being able to see the city. Kitty liked to take them places and even if they had to wear special stuff they got to experience what life was like above ground. When he was with his master, Splinter would tend to take them mostly though the tunnels and take them above ground as little as possible. Five minutes there because a route was blocked off. Ten minutes there while hiding in the alley as he gathered supplies. With Kitty he'd gotten to go to shops and parks. He'd gotten to see lots of people and even help them.

Leo got pulled out of his thoughts as a plate was set in front of him.

It was something he'd never had before. The unfamiliar was something he faced increasingly often as of recent. Curiosity buzzed as he contemplated the small pastry in front of him. He reveled in the newness of it all.

_What is this?_

It was warm in his hands and had little blue spots on it. The pastry was a uniformly round at the bottom with a large poof at the top. He'd never seen it before. Curiosity didn't appear to be enough to slow his brothers down as Donatello was currently in the middle of munching on one that was smeared with butter and it seemed that Raphael had already scarfed two.

"Aren't you going to eat your muffin Leo?" Kitty casually asked before breaking the top off of her own and taking a bite. He could from hers that the blue spots showed up even on the inside. After swallowing, she looked contemplative before turning to him again,"It's blueberry."

He followed her example and pulled the top off of the pastry. His had polka-dots throughout as well. He decided to take a bite.

It was sweet, but had some slightly sour parts. Above all else it was warm and savory. He pulled another off of the pile before he even finished chewing the first bite.

With a mouth full of muffin, he decided he might have a new favorite breakfast. Even if his brothers clearly ate it wrong.

* * *

Donnie had enjoyed the morning. Raphael had come and woken him up just as the sun was rising. He was able to watch the red and orange hues paint the horizon. There were even bits of purple peeking out between buildings. It was a beautiful start to the day.

Then at breakfast they got to try something new. Donatello found he quite liked these muffin things. The taste was pleasing to his pallet. Overall it had been a good start to the day. Kitty hummed a cheery tune as she picked up their dishes and started washing them. It was actually a nice change of pace because she had seemed to be receding in herself the last few days. She still had dark circles under her eyes, but they were harder to notice when every time he caught her eye she aimed a warm smile his way. Before she seemed to hardly want to even look at them… or more so she didn't want them to look at her. He wondered what exactly had cheered her up so much today. On the other hand it didn't matter so much as long as they got to revel in the happier mood. Good fortune was not common for the brothers.

"Oh Don, could you please get the vaccinations when you get the chance?" She asked, only turning her her head to face him as she dried the dishes. She asked so casually too, like she was asking him to grab her a book or her coat.

"No way lady-"

Raphael immediately started to voice his protest and even Leo had stood defensively, but she put up and single hand and all opposition immediately paused. It was strange to see both of his older brothers go quiet so instantly. He'd only seen their dad be able to silence the two of them so easily before. Sometimes he wished he had the ability given the way the two of them could go on. Sure, Mikey was the biggest talker of the four, but at least he didn't talk _over_ anyone. The youngest of the four was surprisingly respectful when it came to listening to others…. He missed his little brother.

"I won't be doing anything. However, when your father comes to get you someone will need to learn some basic survival medicine, like how to give an injection and take blood," Kitty said while pulling the first aid kit that she normally kept in the bathroom off the counter. She had obviously been planning this.

It was Leo who stepped forward, "You're not gonna trick us into taking those things by playing doctor. Don said he needed to research more!"

"Well actually-" Donatello started, but then Raphael took over.

"Plus! How do we know t'ose things really ar' what ya say dey are?!" Raphael said stomping a foot.

"He won't be practicing on you," Kitty said seemingly unphased by the hostility being thrown her way, "There are six vials. He'll be practicing on me."

* * *

Mikey knew he wasn't supposed to be leaving the room. He was supposed to stay in bed and rest under the covers until he got better. However, being stuck in bed for more than two weeks now was making him impatient no matter how sick he felt. He still felt hot and clammy, but he was so bored! For whatever reason though, he just wasn't quite as tired as he had been feeling the past days.

So with a blanket draped over his head and around his shoulders, he decided peeking through the door was safe enough. Technically he wasn't actually leaving the room right?

Right.

With the door just barely cracked open he could could peek out on what was going on. He had heard Raphie yelling again -no surprise there- so his curiosity was spiking. He hadn't known what was going on since originally being stuck in the room. Over the his "not"-imprisonment he had become well acquainted with every crack in the wall and water stain on the ceiling. The comics that Kitty had given him early on had been well and good, but he could only look at the pictures when she wasn't there to read them to him. He needed something new to entertain him.

Looking out he could see people gathered in the kitchen, but given that the room he was in was at the end of the hall and the kitchen was at the other end, opposite side he could only barely make out the figures through the opening. It was quiet. Like, weirdly quiet. Normally the tv was going and music was playing or at least some sort of conversation. Even when Kitty read stories, she tended to be animated with it as she badly tried to impersonate different characters. The woman did not have a voice acting career in her future.

It was nearly silent though. Almost eerily so.

Since he could barely see anything from his position, he turned his head to hear from the opening instead. He wasn't disappointed as he could just make out a voice.

"_Make sure to rub down the area with alcohol to disinfect it."_

That was definitely Kitty. Her voice was much different than any of his brothers. Softer. He liked it. Her voice never seemed to get loud. At first he thought it was maybe a girl thing, but then her nieces had visited and they proved that girls could be just as loud as boys. They had also destroyed any evidence of it being a human thing. Then he wondered if it was an adult thing and if they would all be quiet too when they got older, but then he remembered that his dad had yelled at them before. It wasn't something that happened often, but it did happen, especially when they pressured him to let them go to the surface.

He'd never heard her yell though. Maybe it was just a her thing.

"_Is this right?"_

That was definitely Donnie. He sounded like he was in concentration mode. Mikey wondered what he was concentrating on. It was also weird that he still hadn't seen or heard sign of Leo or Raphie yet. Whatever was causing the apartment to be so quiet was sure making it easier to eavesdrop.

"_Yep. Just remember, when you take blood make sure you hit a vein. However you're administering a shot right now so it doesn't matter as much, just try not to hit a muscle because that can hurt your patient."_

Donnie didn't say anything in response. Mikey had to assume he either nodded or shook his head in response.

"_Okay, now you wanna level out the shot so the syringe is pointing down and then flick the side of it to make sure there are no bubbles in it."_

Donnie was still silent. He must be concentrating hard. Mikey wished he knew what a syringe was so he could understand what was happening. Oh well. It probably wasn't too exciting if it was Donnie who was concentrating on it. Sure, there were fun things that the next youngest of the turtles liked, but Mikey knew that his brain worked so fast that even fun things didn't tend to hold his attention very long. Donnie liked complicated things. Mikey didn't like them as much, but he understood that his brother did. Leo seemed to think if it didn't have a simple solution it wasn't worth his time. Raph just thought he could create a simple solution by breaking complicated things.

"_Just DO it already!"_

That was definitely Raph. He was the only one who somehow managed to have a kinda raspy voice. No one was quite sure how he did it.

"_Raph!"_

Ha Leo.

"Wha-"

It was weird that Raphie had stopped mid sentence like that when a fight with Leo was just gearing up. Something must have happened. Mikey longed to go and see exactly what was happening, but he knew if he left he could get in trouble for it. At _least_ a disapproving talking to and he wasn't too keen on that.

"_That was very good Don."_

"_...thanks…" _

Weird that Don was being so quiet. Mikey had thought he had started to get used to their guardian.

"_Now you know what to do right? It's up to you to decide. I did everything I could to make sure it was okay, but it is still up to you."_

What was up to him?

"_Wait though. I want you to see how it reacts in me first okay?"_

How WHAT reacts?

"_...okay…"_

There was silence after that. With a huff Mikey closed the door and knocked his head on it once.

Being sick sucked.

* * *

She had pricked them with those stupid needles and injected them with stuff. Well, not exactly, _Donnie_ had technically pricked them with the stupid needles, but she had tricked him into doing it!

Now both Donnie and Leo were each curled up in the girly pink and purple sheets of the beds in the second bedroom. Neither were coughing, but they both had mild fevers and were sleeping more than usual. He knew it wasn't a good sign. That stupid lady had made two more of his brothers sick and it wasn't fair! How _dare_ she?!

When they had first started burning up he hadn't even had the time to get mad as she had him moving around the apartment and getting this or that to help take care of them. She had put them to bed straight away and made them soup. Leo and Donnie were both treating her like she was some kind of saint. He knew their minds musta been fuzzy with the fevers because they seemed to be forgetting that she was the _reason_ they were sick in the first place!

At this point the flurry of taking care of two newly sick people had calmed as all of his brothers were now supposed to be asleep. He decided it was time to give the woman a piece of his mind and make sure she knew that if they _didn't_ get better, she would be the next one bed bound.

He found her mashing some berries in the kitchen.

Of all the things she could be doing. All three of his brothers were sick and she was _mashing stupid berries_. Seriously? Wasn't there something better she should be doing? Like taking care of Leo and Don?!

"Oh, hello Raph. Do you want to help?" Kitty had asked when she noticed his entrance into the kitchen.

"Do I… Do I wanna _help_? My brotha's are sick and yer askin' me if I wanna squish berries?!"

"They-"

"NO! I don't wanna help! Leo and Don are sick and it's all your fault! You MADE them sick! YOU MADE THEM SICK LIKE MIKEY!"

"I-"

"WHAT IF DEY DON'T GET BETTA?! DEN WHAT?! I'LL BE ALL ALONE CAUSE OF YOU! SENSEI STILL HASN'T FOUND US AND DEN MIKEY GOT SICK AND NOW LEO AND DON ARE SICK! YOU SAID YOU WERE GONNA HELP US, BUT IT SEEMS TO ME THAT EVERYTHING'S WORSE AND IT'S ALL YOUR-"

In the middle of his shouting however, Kitty wordlessly walked forward, stopping just in front of the small turtle, until his beak was only inches from her thigh.

"WHAT, do ya tink you can 't' -timidate me jus' 'cause you're bigga'?"

The woman gave no verbal response. Instead, she simply let herself fall to her knees with her head bowed to the child in front of her.

"Hey, I'm talkin' to ya! What if you're wrong?! What if dey don't get betta'? What if none of them do?! What den-"

Raphael fell silent as arms wrapped around his shell. Kitty's face pressed against his plastron. He could hear her sniffling, it reminded him of when Donnie cried from his nightmares, but softer as he struggled to actually hear her nearly silent sobs. He could feel her shaking against him.

"I'm… I'm scared too," she said as her sobs continued. "I'm trying though… I am. I just…"

Raphael had never heard and adult cry before. Something about it made him feel… antsy. There was a deep, heavy feeling in his stomach. Gravity seemed to be working overtime to make him feel both physically and emotionally low.

"I promise you, I'm trying everything I can."

His throat felt tight. He tried swallowing, but it didn't help. When he felt like this, he was supposed to control his breathing like sensei said, but he couldn't seem to catch it. There wasn't enough air. His lungs just weren't working. He felt something hot and wet trailing down his cheeks and suddenly it was all over. His arms were wrapped around her neck. His face was pressed into her hair. The tears wouldn't stop. It was too much.

A soft hand began to rub slow, careful circles into his shoulders. Breathing became just a little easier.

"What if… what if like Mikey 'dey… don't get betta?"

Raphael felt her press her forehead against the crown of his own head. Long, lavender strands tickled against the sides of his neck, but he paid them no mind. She started humming in that soft, comforting way he'd heard her do for Mikey through some of his coughing fits. Sometimes he listened through the door, just to make sure she wasn't doing anything to hurt him of course. She never did though. He could see why Mikey often fell asleep after she did this. His lungs seemed to finally be working properly again. Gravity was no longer fighting him. He just felt… together. Raphael felt himself physically relax in her soft grip

Raphael realized that he wasn't really mad. What he was feeling was much, much worse.

He was scared.

* * *

_**Raphael always seemed too stubborn to me to get sick easily. By the way the berries are elderberries and they are used to help against colds and flus. They wouldn't help much in this case, but her hearts in the right place. BTW all that research Kitty did I basically had to do too and talking to my aunt who was a doctor, theoretically as far as we could tell vaccinations SHOULD work if they're susceptible to human sicknesses because they're the same strands of sicknesses so I'm gonna go with that. **_


End file.
